Unilever has shelved the planned sale of ear swabs brand Q-Tips, along with some beauty and personal care brands, as there was not enough interest from bidders, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The consumer goods giant had earlier this year started exploring options for brands such as Q-Tips, Caress, TIGI, Timotei, Impulse and Monsavon after carving them out into a separate business in April.
The sale process of the brands, which had combined revenues of around €600 million ($693.84 million) in 2020, could be revived in the future, the WSJ report said, citing a source.
Unilever declined to comment.
Stiff Competition
The Dove soap owner's decision to explore a sale of some of its businesses comes at a time when the company is facing share price weakness and stiff competition from its rivals in areas of hygiene and packaged food. Its sale of a majority of its tea business is underway.
London-listed shares in Unilever have lost about 11% of their value so far this year.
In October, the consumer goods giant beat expectations as it posted a 2.5% increase in third quarter sales, with the business expecting to be 'well within' its planned 3% to 5% target for the full year.
Earlier this year, the company joined a new global coalition along with Henkel, L'Oréal, LVMH, Natura &Co to co-develop an industry-wide environmental impact assessment and scoring system for cosmetics products.
The aim is to co-design a brand-agnostic approach and provide consumers with clear, transparent, and comparable environmental impact information, based on a standard science-based methodology.
