“All businesses with a significant out of home component have been severely affected, the market disappeared for a while. It’s not about ice cream only, it is also about soft drinks and beer. The hospitality industry is closed. Without people in parks and going out it is hard to sell ice cream,” says Ionut Ilie, the Romanian executive who runs the ice cream business of Unilever on five markets – Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Moldova.
Unilever accounts for about 33% of the local ice cream market put at EUR200 million. It has both Romanian brands – Betty Ice and Napoca, and international brands – Carte D’Or, Magnum, Cornetto and Ben & Jerry. It has its own production facility in Romania, in Suceava, which it acquired from businessman Vasile Armenean along with the entire Betty Ice business in a EUR80 million deal about two years ago.
Unilever ice cream’s division has its own component that was closed, the Betty Ice kiosks, almost 200 of them located in parks and leisure areas, as well as in malls.
“All the components of social life shut down and this hit us. Kiosks generated 15% of our revenue.”
The kiosks will reopen when the authorities allow it, he added. Unilever is getting ready for May 15 to be able to restart the kiosk business because people will want to go the parks.
“Authorities are not very clear yet about what they will progressively reopen. We hope to get clear information about what types of business will restart.”
The ice cream division revised its growth estimates, but remains optimistic, the official says.
“I don’t think we’ll do too bad. There was an almost complete freeze, but sales have reverted to growth, with a very good end of April. Consumption will return to its pre-lockdown level. The adjustment will be in the second quarter, with a third quarter performing as scheduled. We hope to recover in the fourth quarter [what we lost in the second i.e.].”
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)