LONDON, June 25, 2026, 12:10 BST
- Unilever gained 1.1% to 4,592.5 pence, moving faster than the FTSE 100.
- The finished €1.5 billion buyback points to an average price of €48.85 per share.
- McCormick topped profit forecasts for the quarter and said progress continued on its planned Unilever Foods deal.
Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) gained 1.1% to 4,592.5 pence at 11:58 BST on Thursday. The FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) added roughly 0.4%.
The gain gives another look at when Unilever finished its €1.5 billion share buyback. Unilever picked up 30,703,780 shares, paying a market value of €1,499,999,891. The buyback ran from April 30 to June 5 and aimed to cut capital.
The numbers suggest Unilever paid an average of €48.85 per share. On Thursday, Amsterdam-listed shares closed at €53.33, which is 9.2% higher. Picking up the same amount of stock now would run €1.637 billion, or about €137 million extra.
Unilever’s €137 million is not booked as an accounting gain, since those shares went for a capital reduction. The sum is a timing figure. The buyback covered roughly 1.4% of Unilever’s 2.15 billion shares outstanding.
McCormick & Company (NYSE:MKC) offered a fresh look at the Foods deal in its latest report. The spice maker posted second-quarter revenue of $1.94 billion, beating the $1.91 billion LSEG estimate. Adjusted earnings were 80 cents a share, ahead of the 69-cent forecast.
McCormick CEO Brendan Foley said the company is moving ahead with integration planning for the proposed deal with Unilever Foods.
Unilever shareholders will get 55.1% of the merged company, and Unilever itself keeps a 9.9% stake. Unilever gets $15.7 billion in cash for its Foods unit, which the deal prices at $44.8 billion. CEO Fernando Fernandez said the deal is “unlocking trapped value through a growth-led separation of Foods.” Unilever
Unilever’s first-quarter underlying sales gained 3.8%, with volume up 2.9%. Turnover dropped 3.3% to €12.6 billion as currency moves took away the sales increase. The company stuck with its 2026 outlook, guiding for sales growth at the low end of its 4%–6% range.
Unilever said it plans to pay out a £0.4046 first-quarter dividend on June 26. Second-quarter and half-year numbers drop July 28.
