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Shares in the Magnum Ice Cream Company sank on Thursday after the Unilever spin-off reported a slide in sales volumes, exacerbating concerns that the category is vulnerable to growing use of weight-loss drugs.
The maker of Cornetto and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream reported a 3 per cent drop in sales volumes in the fourth quarter — well below the 0.5 per cent volume growth forecast by analysts.
Jefferies analyst David Hayes said the result would “reignite worries” on the structural risks of GLP-1 drugs for the ice cream category: “This miss will not help that anxiety, we think.”
Magnum shares sank more than 14 per cent in Amsterdam after the company reported its first earnings since its demerger in December, when it listed with a valuation of €7.8bn on Euronext Amsterdam. The company’s market value was cut to €8.6bn following Thursday’s sell-off.
Ahead of its spin-off, Magnum faced scrutiny from investors on how exposed a pure-play ice cream company would be to the growing use of weight-loss drugs.
Chief executive Peter ter Kulve played down the risk, pointing to low-calorie and high-protein options in the portfolio, as well as portion-control versions of brands, such as Magnum Bonbons.
Magnum reported a 48 per cent drop in annual net profit to €307mn due to separation and restructuring costs from the demerger. Operating profit fell 21 per cent to €599mn.
The company reported €7.9bn turnover in 2025, flat compared with the previous year, with organic sales up 4.2 per cent, from 2.8 per cent in 2024. It expected organic sales growth of between 3 and 5 per cent this year.
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