8 December 2025
If you are covering Magnum Ice Cream’s stock market debut, please see the following comment from Chris Beckett, consumer staples analyst at Quilter Cheviot:
“While Magnum hasn’t thrived under Unilever’s ownership, there is some hope that the revitalised management team – albeit predominantly made up of ex-Unilever employees – will produce a better operating performance. The business itself has a strong brand and good market position, and it sits within a category that people enjoy spending money on. However, it is not the healthiest product, and one that is heavily weather dependent in terms of sales, so it tends to be a more volatile mix than some others.
“Magnum is trading right in the middle of the range that the sell side had been expecting, with €13 equating to eight times EBITDAR and 13 times price to earnings. In the coming weeks we may see some weakness for more technical reasons. A lot of long only houses and UK funds will not be natural owners of a smaller European listed company, and not everyone has been convinced by the pitch from Magnum’s management. There will be some natural selling before we see a more stable shareholder base, as everyone who now owns Magnum shares had no choice in the matter as existing Unilever holders.
“Looking ahead, if the new management team is able to hit the goals for sales growth and profit margin improvement it has set out through the demerger, then we can expect to see a rerating over time as confidence in the business improves. For now, it is a bit of a ‘show me’ story, and the management team will have some work to do.”
