London

The job cuts will be in the “low thousands”, the person said.

The development comes on the heels of reports that activist investor Nelson Peltz’s hedge fund, Trian Partners, is building an unspecified stake in the consumer goods giant whose strategy is under scrutiny after a short-lived pursuit of GSK’s consumer healthcare arm. The Marmite and Dove soap maker will slash the positions in more than 100 countries, with cuts in the “low thousands” planned, the report cited a source as saying.

It comes a week after the firm failed in its bid to buy the consumer health division of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for 50 billion pounds.

Unilever, which declined to comment on the cuts, faces mounting pressure from investors to accelerate its growth. The UK-based firm, which has 149,000 staff worldwide, will make the layoffs as part of a wider restructuring that will see it adopt a more competitive operating model.

The firm employs over 6,000 people in its operations in the UK and Ireland. Last week, Unilever sparked anger from some investors when it dropped a short-lived pursuit of GSK’s healthcare business, the report said.

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