LONDON, June 17, 2026, 10:51 BST
- Unilever shares were at 4,374.00p at 09:35 BST, off 0.51%. Volume was 435,404.
- Unilever and Accenture are moving forward with plans to roll out AI-powered digital twins in factories, targeting over 40 new models in the next 18 months.
- Unilever’s tie-up with McCormick, Q1 volume numbers and the bottom of the company’s 2026 sales-growth target are all on investors’ minds.
Unilever PLC shares slipped in London on Wednesday, paring some of the previous day’s gains as investors shrugged off the fresh factory-automation update and stuck with the main story around the consumer group’s wider shake-up.
Unilever traded at 4,375p on AJ Bell just after 10:30 BST, with the quote at 4,374.00p to sell and 4,374.50p to buy. The shares were down 0.48% after opening at 4,396.00p.
The market move trailed the London benchmark, which stayed flat. The FTSE 100 slipped 0.08% to 10,485.91 at 10:16 BST. Trading was still light, so even small changes in sentiment pushed some stocks more.
Unilever said it’s teaming with Accenture to roll out more digital twins across its factories. The maker of Dove and Hellmann’s said these digital models, fed by real-time data, are set to help predict and sharpen output on production lines and equipment. Accenture said Unilever plans to add over 40 new digital twins in the next 18 months. Adam Raeburn-James, Unilever’s global VP for digital business operations, said the project is designed for “measurable impact.” Accenture Newsroom
Unilever is pushing this programme to deliver real savings, not just headline tech upgrades. The company said it has already seen less waste, higher capacity, and fewer quality problems at factories in the US, India, Poland, and Vietnam. Nicole van Det, Accenture’s Netherlands and Nordics CEO, who also leads the Unilever account, said the move was about “technology and people.” Unilever
Unilever is looking for the market to see it as a cleaner, faster-growing business as it works through changes across much of its portfolio. In its first-quarter update, underlying sales growth, which strips out currency and portfolio swings, was up 3.8%. Volume added 2.9%, and pricing gave a 0.9% lift. Turnover, though, dropped 3.3% to 12.6 billion euros, with currency pressure hitting the numbers. CEO Fernando Fernandez at the time said Unilever had “started the year well.” Investegate
Unilever’s plan to carve out its Foods unit and merge it with McCormick is still raising questions about how the business will be valued. The companies struck a deal in March, valuing the Foods unit at about $44.8 billion and handing Unilever and its shareholders a 65% stake in the new firm. The companies say the deal could close by mid-2027 if regulators sign off. If it goes ahead, Unilever will have more weight in beauty, wellbeing, personal care and home care.
Peer comps aren’t tidy. Reckitt looks more like the hygiene and health company Unilever says it wants to be, while Nestlé is the go-to for food and drink. Unilever is in the middle with investors focusing on how it executes, not just on sector moves.
Barclays analyst Warren Ackerman last week kept his buy rating on Unilever and upped his price target to 5,650p from 5,500p. LSEG data from Investors Chronicle shows 17 analysts with a median 12-month target of 5,213.53p, which is about 18.6% above Unilever’s last price at 4,396.50p. Analysts stay split, but not bearish overall.
The consumer picture isn’t entirely negative. UK inflation stayed at 2.8% in May, according to Reuters, as cheaper food prices balanced out costlier airfares and petrol. Markets see the Bank of England holding rates at 3.75% on Thursday. Lower food inflation gives households some relief, though it can squeeze pricing for packaged-goods companies.
There’s a risk the new factory AI push is slow to help margins, while the McCormick deal keeps attention on things like regulatory sign-off, added debt, stranded costs, and what stock investors could end up with in the combined foods company. Rising input costs again, or softer volumes in the US and Europe, would make showing a turnaround tougher.
