Unilever goals to maintain traders candy with monetary replace

Cool: Eva Longoria eating a Magnum

Unilever bosses hope to stay in investors’ good graces this week with a closely watched financial update.

Shares in the consumer giant – whose brands include Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s and Hellmann’s mayonnaise – have traded at near five-year highs.

Chief executive Hein Schumacher intends to spin off the group’s ice-cream business and save around £700m with 7,500 job cuts.

Sales are expected to have risen 1.5 per cent to just under £13billion in its third quarter.

And the City will be keeping an ear out for any hints of a London listing for its ice cream unit, which also owns the Wall’s brand.