The Facts -- New Internationalist

The Facts

new internationalist
issue 172 - June 1987

The billion-dollar profit-maker

You may not recognize the name Unilever. But it is more than likely that you will recognize Unilever products - for example, Blue Band, Flora, Surf, Sunlight, Breeze, Snuggle, Pearss, Rexona, Vaseline, Brooke Bond, Krona, Lipton Tea, Rama, Sunsilk, Timotei, Persil, Omo, Wisk, Lux, Lifebuoy, Gibbs, Close Up, Signal, Astral, Crisp 'n' Dry, Twink, Harmony, Summer County, Imperial, Becel, Skindeep, Sure and Shield Deodorant, Vinolia, Summer County and Stork. It is not surprising that you know some of these names: two-thirds of the world's people are confronted by Unilever products every day of their lives.¹

From our cradles to our graves Unilever sells to most of us - yet it is virtually invisible. Anonymity hides the Company's importance. Unilever is bigger - and more influential - than many of the world's nations. Its profits of $1,525 million² in 1985 were bigger than the Gross National Products of Nicaragua, Kenya and Papua New Guinea put together.³ These pages shed light on Unilever's shadowy empire.

THE VIEW FROM THE STOCKMARKET

Share prices⁴

[image, unknown]

UNILEVER'S OWNERS

Share holder⁵

Class of share holder	Number of holdings	Amount of holdings	%
Class of share holder	Number of holdings	£	%
Banks and discount companies	5,058	556,900	1
Financial Trusts	55	65,767	-
Insurance companies	844	8,336,261	21
Investment trusts	139	320,717	1
Pension funds	163	2,510,022	6
Nominee companies (companies which act on behalf of the real investor)	4,580	15,310,855	39
Other companies	1,054	2,466,476	6

	11.983	29,566,998	74
Leverhulme Trust	2	2,195,410	6
Individuals	53,529	7,755,932	20

	65,424	39,518,340	100

Individuals

Holdings of	Average Holdings	Number of Holdings	Amount of Holdings
	£		£
1-100	52	31,459	1,658,760
101-250	162	15,740	2,557,586
251-500	350	4,590	1,608,768
501-1,000	681	1,356	924,632
1,001-5,000	1,583	357	565,260
5,001-10,000	7,744	17	131,657
10,001-25,000	15,359	7	107,514
25,001-50,000	38,233	1	38,233
Over 50,000	81,761	2	163,522

		53,529	7,755,932

UNILEVER'S PROFITS

Profit before tax⁶ ^{(in $ millions)} [image, unknown]

PROFITS IN RELATION TO INVESTMENTS

The profitability of particular regions is not completely dependent on new investments: it is partly dependent on capital introduced over a number of years.

Capital invested, operating profits and profits as % of investment ⁷

[image, unknown]

UNEQUAL REWARDS

Turnover, profits and wages⁸


Profit per employee*	Wages per employee**	Turnover (mainly sales) per employee	Wages and increments per Director***

* Profit on ordinary activities before taxation

** These are averages: they include the salaries paid to Unilever's top 200 managers and 19 Directors. These figures also hide the low wages paid to employees in some countries where Unilever operates.

*** Not including the average £105,263 superannuation per Director.

UNWANTED WORKERS

Those employed and those made redundant⁹

[image, unknown]

^{1. Unilever's World CIS Anti Report No. 11;

2. Unilever in 1985 Annual Report and Salient Figures;

3. The World Bank Atlas 1985;

4. The Guardian Mar 4 1986;

5. Unilever Annual Report 1985;

6. Various Unilever Annual Reports and press releases;

7. Unilever in Africa SOMO, Amsterdam, 1984;

8. Unilever Annual Report 1985, Extel UK Listed Companies Service;

9. Lepper, C. I. Major Trends and Statistics Unilever Workers' Seminar, London 1984.}