Unilever 2000 Annual Report Download - page 8

Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2000
6Bestfoods’ Lesieur range of mayonnaise products in France.
The sale is conditional on approval by the European
Commission Mergers Task Force and subject to consultative
procedures before completion. The businesses are being
divested as a result of undertakings given to the European
Commission in connection with the acquisition of Bestfoods
which w as completed in October 2000.
Home & Personal Care
Home care and professional cleaning We are one of the
global leaders in the domestic and professional home care
markets. In the home care sector our products have been
developed to meet the diverse requirements of consumers to
clean and care for their homes and clothes. In laundry, they
include tablets for convenience, traditional powders and
liquids for soaking, washing by hand and by machine. In
developing and emerging markets, soap bars are available
for lower income consumers. In household care our products
are designed to tackle most cleaning and hygiene needs
around the home.
Our home care brands are available in over 100 countries,
many of them holding leading market positions. Our most
international home care brands include Omo, Surf, Skip, all,
Comfort, Wisk, Cif, Domestos and, in the UK, Persil.
DiverseyLever provides cleaning and hygiene products and
services to customers in over 60 countries. The business
holds leading positions in major sectors such as hospitality,
foodservice, health care and food and beverage production.
Personal Care We are the world leader in skin cleansing,
deodorants and anti-perspirants. In skin cleansing our most
international brands include Lux, Dove and Lifebuoy.
Rexona, Impulse and Degree are the key brands in
deodorants and anti-perspirants while Axe/Lynx is the
leading international brand in the male personal care range.
We have important market shares in toothpastes, skin care
and hair products in many countries. Toothpastes are sold
widely under the Signal, Close-Up and Mentadent brands
while in skin care Pond’s, Vaseline and Fair & Lovely are
important internationally. Hair shampoos are available
internationally under the Sunsilk, Seda, Organics and
Timotei brands. We hold leading positions in North America
where the key brands are Suave, ThermaSilk, Salon
Selectives and Finesse.
Our Prestige fragrances business is one of the world’s
largest. We sell a number of fragrances under the Calvin
Klein name. Brands include Obsession, Eternity and Escape
while in recent years cK One and cK be have been
introduced to appeal to the youth market.
During 2000 we agreed to sell the Elizabeth Arden
cosmetics business w hile retaining the Prestige designer
fragrance brands Cerruti, Lagerfeld, Chloé and Valentino.
These brands, together w ith Nautica, Vera Wang and BCBG
fragrance, complete our extensive portfolio of Prestige
fragrances.
Other Operations
To support our consumer brands, we own oil plantations in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and
Malaysia and tea plantations in India, Kenya and Tanzania.
Report of the Directors
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