After the company’s withdrawal from Russia, the head of Unilever told how hard she worked there
28 November 09:35
Unilever Plc has pulled out of Russia because it was losing control of its business there. Its CEO Hein Schumacher said this in an interview with Bloomberg Television, reports
According to Hein Schumacher, the company had fewer and fewer opportunities to do things like move cash in and out of Russia, review results, or influence brand management.
“I didn’t see a window in the near future where we would regain that control, and that prompted the decision to exit,” he said.
As you know, the Russian government has made it harder for Western companies to leave by levying new taxes and lowering transaction valuations after Western governments imposed sanctions. The withdrawal of profits from the country also requires permission from local authorities, which is difficult to obtain.
Bloomberg reminds that in October, soap manufacturer Dove completed the sale of its Russian unit to local company Arnest Group without disclosing the amount of the deal. According to Unilever, the company’s net assets amounted to about 600 million euros and included four factories and about 3000 employees.
Unilever Plc left Russia in the third year of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine after constant public pressure.
According to the Kyiv School of Economics, Unilever has paid $67 million in income tax to the Russian state over the past two years. In total, Western companies paid $20 billion annually.
Instead, multinational consumer companies such as Nestle SA, PepsiCo and Mondelez have remained in Russia, despite the difficulties of doing business there, for more than 1,000 days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
How many foreign companies still operate in Russia
2197 or 54.9% of international brands continue to operate in Russia. These are the results of the monitoring conducted by the KSE Institute, a think tank at the Kyiv School of Economics. As previously reported by
According to the KSE Institute, as of early November, 2,197 companies continue to operate in Russia. 1,365 companies have curtailed operations in Russia and are trying to “exit”. Only 440 companies have completed their exit from Russia.
Among those that have exited in recent weeks, KSE Institute identifies: Abloy LLC (liquidation), Ishida (liquidation), Kongsberg Maritime (liquidation), Moncler (liquidation), and Lindström Group (the sale was missed earlier). It was also decided to grant Fortum the status of “withdrawn”, as it was effectively nationalized earlier and has no way to return its assets in Russia. In October 2024, there were also 7 business sales: A.Raymond Group, ANAS, Benteler International, GRAITEC, Magneti Marelli, Unilever and UNIQA.
