Unilever has set a launch date for its soon-to-be separated ice cream division, which will be renamed The Magnum Ice Cream Company.

The consumer goods giant announced during its first quarter trading update today (24 April) that it is on track to complete the separation of Ice Cream business in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Due to operate on a standalone basis from 1 July, The Magnum Ice Cream Company will be demerged from Unilever via a seperate listing of the business in Amsterdam, London and New York. It will continue to be headquartered in Amsterdam.

The news comes as Unilever reported a dip in turnover in the first quarter of 2025, despite ‘Power’ brands such as Dove achieving growth.

For the 12 weeks ending 31 March 2025, Unilever’s sales fell by 0.9% to €14.8bn, but underlying sales growth was still 3% over the quarter, bolstered by a 1.3% rise in volume and 1.7% in value growth.

The FTSE 100 giant’s performance was boosted by key portfolio leaders such as Dove, which grew over 8% with the launch of new innovations such as premium lines and hair care ranges, as well as Vaseline, Liquid I.V., and Magnum.

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The ice cream division also proved a strong performer for Unilever, delivering 4.0% underlying sales growth, with 1.8% from volume and 2.2% from price.

Elsewhere, its food sector products fared less well, with underlying growth of 1.6%.

Speaking about the company’s result, new chief executive Fernando Fernandez described its performance as “resilient”, as he praised recent innovation.

“We have started the year with a resilient performance. First quarter underlying sales growth of 3% reflects the strength of our increasingly premium and innovation-led portfolio in developed markets,” said Fernandez.

“We have interventions in place in some emerging markets to step up growth in the remainder of the year. Heightened global macroeconomic uncertainty is a fact; however the quality of our innovation programme, the strong investment behind our brands and our improving competitiveness give us confidence we will deliver on our full year plans.

“Creating desirability at scale for our brands and brilliant in-market execution are the pillars of our plan to turn Unilever into a consistently higher performing business. We are moving at pace, confident in making progress in 2025 and beyond.”

Looking ahead, the business added that it expects underlying sales growth to be within the range of 3% to 5%, citing strong innovation, good momentum in developed markets and improvements in operations in Indonesia and China.