Textbook theory — aided and abetted by investment bankers — favours corporate break-ups. Goodbye conglomerate discount, the putative shortfall plaguing multipronged companies that trade below the sum of their parts; hello dedicated management, capital allocation and strategic direction.
The early verdict on Europe’s latest disposal falls somewhat short of that orthodoxy. Unilever, maker of consumer products such as Dove shampoo and Marmite spread, on Monday spun off its ice cream unit on a trio of exchanges. That demerger scooped close to €9bn in market value from Unilever on Monday afternoon as its shares fell 7 per cent, while the 80 per cent of the newly listed Magnum Ice Cream Company handed to its investors was on Monday worth only €6.3bn.
It is early days and, at least in the northern hemisphere, hardly the height of ice cream season. Still, that values MICC at a fairly modest multiple of 8.2 times this year’s ebitda. In the absence of pure-play comparisons — the number two rival, Froneri, is jointly held by food group Nestlé and private equity — management opts to compare the Magnum maker with snack makers. Those comparisons are not flattering. Chocolate maker Hershey, for instance, trades at more than twice the multiple on S&P Capital IQ estimates, aided in part by superior margins.