The world’s biggest ice cream maker hopes the future’s sweet

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The dispatch

Lovers of ice cream brands like Magnum, Cornetto, Carte D’Or, Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers and Wall’s can now own shares in them directly following Monday’s demerger of The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) from former parent Unilever.

In one of the splashiest stock market events of 2025, shares of TMICC debuted on Amsterdam’s Euronext, and there are also secondary listings in London and New York — where Peter ter Kulve, the chief executive, will ring the opening bell today. (He’ll also be live on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street at 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. ET.)

The listing, Euronext’s largest this year, valued TMICC, the world’s biggest ice cream producer, at 7.8 billion euros ($9.1 billion).

But what are the prospects for the newly demerged business and for Unilever itself?

Neither question is easily answered.

First: TMICC, where even the share price prospects are unpredictable in the short term. The company itself has warned that, as it will not qualify for indices such as the FTSE 100, there could be initial selling by tracker funds unable to hold the stock. The lack of a dividend in 2026 will also deter some investors.

Unilever and its banking advisors sought to address this by setting a low reference price for TMICC shares and, accordingly, some bargain hunters may step in. And it is cheap: including debt, TMICC is worth little more than the next-biggest player in the $87-billion global ice cream market, Froneri, a British-based joint venture between Nestle and PAI Partners, the French private equity firm. It has an 11% global market share compared with TMICC’s 21%.

In terms of trading prospects, there are also headwinds, most obviously the growing popularity of weight-loss drugs.

Ahead of the demerger, ter Kulve played down these risks, arguing that for years TMICC has evolved its portfolio to include more products with reduced sugar, higher amounts of protein or in which portions can be controlled. Examples include Breyers CarbSmart ice cream, which is higher in protein, or Ben & Jerry’s move from pint cartons to ice cream on sticks. 

The CEO is targeting medium-term organic annual sales growth of 3%-5%, compared with the long-term average of 3% achieved under Unilever.

There may also be opportunities for TMICC, as a more focused business, to increase investments in its supply chain, where there was little overlap with Unilever’s other businesses, potentially leaving it neglected. That goes for the investment story more broadly.

As Chris Beckett, consumer staples analyst at the wealth manager Quilter Cheviot, put it: “While Magnum hasn’t thrived under Unilever’s ownership, there is some hope that the revitalised management team — albeit…