Unilever PLC/NV plans to cut the number of its brands to 400 by the end of 2004, said chairman of the Dutch arm Antony Burgmans, in an interview to appear in tomorrow's edition of WirtschaftsWoche magazine.
Unilever currently has 900 brands and now wants to keep only the strongest and most profitable ones, the magazine said.
"We generate a good 85% of our revenues from our 400 strongest brands," said Burgmans. "By the end of 2004, it will be 95%," forecast Burgmans.
Burgmans added that in the coming two years, Unilever will not make any acquisitions."For the moment, we have bought enough," said Burgmans.
Last year, Unilever acquired roughly 30 billion euro in business and sold 5 billion euro of business, Burgmans said.