Unilever 2003 Annual Report Download - page 13

10 Unilever Annual Report & Accounts and Form 20-F 2003
About Unilever
We have an important market share in oral care, with products
sold widely, predominantly under the Signal brand with Close Up
playing a complementary role.
We also have a global prestige fragrance business with the Calvin
Klein range (including cK one, Eternity and Obsession) and ranges
developed with other designers.
Other operations
To support our consumer brands, we have invested in tea
plantations in India, Kenya and Tanzania and palm oil plantations
in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.
Corporate venture activities
We are investing €170 million, over three years (2002-2004),
in venturing activities to build business opportunities that fit our
core business interests in Foods and Home & Personal Care. Of
this, we have committed €97 million to Langholm Capital Partners
Fund, which completed fundraising in 2003, raising a total of
€242 million. This fund invests in private European companies
with above-average longer-term growth prospects. It has invested
in Physcience, a French natural food supplements business, and
Noiro, the leading company in the mass prestige personal care
market in Finland.
Up to €70 million will be invested over the three years, in two
venture funds of our own, Unilever Ventures and Unilever
Technology Ventures. Unilever Ventures acts as an early stage
business development fund for businesses both from within
Unilever and from outside. It has invested in Persil Services,
a laundry and dry-cleaning business in the UK, Pond’s Beauty
Centres in Spain and Insense, a technology spin-out from
Unilever. Unilever Technology Ventures invests in technology
funds and start-up companies. It has invested in NGEN material
science fund, Burrill life science fund and in Perlegen, a start-up
company working with the human genome.
As of 31 December 2003 we have invested €59 million in all our
venture activities.
Technology and innovation
To support our Path to Growth strategy we continue to focus
research and development on select, global projects to reinforce
our leading brands. Our network of Global Innovation Centres
continues to develop these brands and to accelerate their growth
across sectors and regions.
In 2003, we spent €1 065 million (2002: €1 166 million; 2001:
€1 178 million) on research and development – 2.5% of our
turnover. We have further strengthened our interactions with
academia and start-up companies, which will help us to identify
hotspots in science and technology and develop radical
capabilities for our businesses through the application of these
technologies. One such example is our interaction with Perlegen,
which is a genomics start-up company based in California with
whom we are exploring the application of this new science to
open up novel avenues for detailed investigation within our
R&D programmes.
The Foods division took major initiatives to focus its innovation
programme on health and wellness and introduced a range of
innovations into the marketplace. As part of the Knorr brand
extension into the frozen food category, a new range of premium
quality soups were launched in Belgium, France and Germany
during October 2003. The new soups are well positioned to
address consumers’ increasing concerns about nutrition, as they
are full of chunky, natural, fresh vegetables. We continued the
roll-out of mealkits in Europe with an introduction in five new
countries including Germany. Knorr also innovated within its core
with a host of seasoning launches in developing and emerging
countries, particularly in China, Malaysia, Turkey and the
Caribbean. We entered the large European cream market with
three varieties of dairy cream alternatives. Under Lipton we
introduced Lipton Ice Tea Green, a refreshing ice tea extending
the brand into the exciting green tea segment. In ice cream,
innovations such as Magnum 7 Sins, Magnum Moments,
Magnum Sandwich and Carte d’Or Origin and Carte d’Or Fruit
& Fresh as well as new Cornetto variants stimulated the ice
cream Heart brand. Slim•Fast introduced a full programme of
innovations at the end of 2003 in line with its new positioning
as a plan. It addresses the key consumer needs for weight loss,
with the launch of hot, savoury meal replacements, soups and
pasta, low-carbohydrate shakes and bars, as well as high-protein
bars and ice cream. In the Hellmann’s and Calvé brands, key
innovations addressed the growing snacking opportunity and
included the roll-out of the Idaho snack sauces in the UK and
Central Europe. Calvé chilled salad dressings were introduced in
the Netherlands and fresh Amora yoghurt mayonnaise in France.
In Europe Bertolli has launched a range of products such as pasta
sauces, salad dressings and vegetable toppings for bread. The
main 2003 innovations for the Iglo, Birds Eye and Findus brand
family focused in four areas: launching microwaveable Steam
Fresh vegetables and fish recipe dishes launched in Europe;
authentic, premium, fresh egg pasta meals launched in Italy; the
relaunch of Sofficini (fun, light, family snacks) in Italy; and within
the platform of kids’ nutrition, launches of chicken dishes and
complete meals for kids. UBF Foodsolutions launched a range of
dairy cream alternatives in Europe.
In Home & Personal Care, the focus has continued to be
on global projects in support of our leading brands. Key
developments in personal care have included the Dove exfoliating
bar and face care range and the roll-out of Dove moisturising
shampoo and conditioner.The Sunsilk relaunch in Asia was
underpinned by new consumer-preferred packaging. The growth
of other key personal care brands was driven by a new bar range
for Lux, a low deposit formulation for Rexona and a male range
for Rexona and Degree. The launch of Axe Dry in Western
Europe, Latin America, North America and the Philippines was
very successful. In Home Care we launched a new core cleaning
innovation and a new bar for Omo and an aloe vera version
of Skip in Europe. We relaunched Cif cream globally and we
launched Comfort Fast Dry in Europe. In 2003, a new research
laboratory was opened in China in support of our business in
this important region and investment has now begun on a
multidisciplinary skin care innovation centre in Trumbull,
Connecticut in the US.