UNILEVER will today commit to overhauling the way it reports on the health of its products after bosses came under fire from a shareholder activist group for lacklustre performance on nutrition. The Marmite-maker said it will set new health benchmarks based on government-endorsed models and stretch sales targets of its healthier goods, after a $215bn (£162bn) coalition of investors coordinated by activist group Shareaction called for reform.

Bosses at Unilever previously insisted that 61 per cent of their products, which include Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Hellman's mayonnaise, were of "High Nutritional Standards", but an independent investigation found that just 17 per cent of its food and drink products were healthy.

The activist shareholder group Shareaction filed a proposal in January urging bosses to set out more ambitious targets on health and improve reporting standards. The proposal was backed by a number of institutional investors in Unilever, including pan-European asset manager Candriam, Dutch asset manager ACTIAM and the Guy's & St Thomas' Foundation.

Shareaction said it welcomed the move to stretch its health targets but the challenge lay ahead for Unilever.

"The next seven months are crucial for ensuring that this commitment is translated into ambitious long-term goals, with concrete policies to deliver these," Louisa Hughes, engagement manager at Shareaction, said.

The commitment from Unilever comes after a torrid two months for beleaguered boss Alan Jope, who faced backlash after it emerged he had made three blockbuster bids for Glaxosmithkline's consumer health division last year.

Jope stepped back from a move to hike his $50bn bid for the division, and has since announced an organisational overhaul in a bid to re-energise the firm's flagging share price.

(c) 2022 City A.M., source Newspaper