LONDON, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Unilever is allocating about 1.5 billion euros ($1.74 billion) a year for mergers and acquisitions, focusing heavily on deals in the United States, CEO Fernando Fernandez said on Tuesday.
The group finalised the demerger of its ice cream business as The Magnum Ice Cream Company listed in Amsterdam on Monday and Fernandez, speaking at an event hosted by JPMorgan, said Unilever’s second-half operating margin after the separation would be at least 19.5%, up from 18.5% including ice cream.
($1 = 0.8597 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Marrow and Hugo LhomedetEditing by David Goodman)
