Two Directors of Unilever Indonesia ‘Resign’ Following the Managing Director

tim | CNN Indonesia

Friday, 24 Nov 2023 19:42 IWST

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —

Two director PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk compactly resigns (resign) following the main director Ira Noviarti who had resigned earlier.

Ira left Unilever Indonesia for personal reasons on October 24 2023. Now, Shiv Sahgal and Sandeep Kohli have also resigned from their director positions at the company codenamed UNVR on Thursday (23/11).

“The resignation of Mr. Shiv Sahgal and Mr. Sandeep Kohli from their respective positions as directors of the company is due to personal reasons, which will be effective as of approval by the General Meeting of Shareholders (GMS),” said Director and Company Secretary Nurdiana Darus in a letter to the Authority. Financial Services (OJK), quoted Friday (24/11).

Nurdiana said the resignation of the two Unilever bosses would be followed up immediately. Later, process resign Shiv and Sandeep will seek approval at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders (EGMS) on December 19 2023.

Even though there are already three UNVR officials who resign, Nurdiana said this did not interfere with the company’s activities at all. He emphasized that there would be no significant impact on Unilever Indonesia’s operational activities, legal conditions, financial conditions or business continuity.

It was not explained what the personal reasons were for the resignation of the two Unilever bosses. However, this company is one of those affected by the pro-Israel product boycott movement.

One of the triggers was when the Unilever company called Ben & Jerry’s decided to stop selling ice cream in West Bank, Palestine during the Israeli occupation in 2021. Unfortunately, Ben & Jerry’s intentions to respect Palestine were countered by Unilever bosses.

Unilever CEO Alan Jope at that time even said that Ben & Jerry’s was exploring new cooperation opportunities with Israel. Suddenly, Jope’s words sparked debate.

“We think it is best for them not to get involved in the debate,” Jope commented at the time, quoted by Reuters.

That was the trigger for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to become inflamed. Unilever is thought to be trying to pressure the independent board of Ben & Jerry’s into maintaining business as usual with Israel, which is currently invading Gaza.

Unilever Indonesia’s existence was also affected. It can be seen from the share price of the issuer coded UNVR which continues to experience a downward trend.

PT Kiwoom Sekuritas Indonesia Customer Literacy and Education Supervisor Oktavianus Audi said that the downward trend in Unilever Indonesia’s shares had occurred since the beginning of 2023. He assessed that the profits generated by the company had always been negative until the 9th month of 2023 and was one of the culprits.

“As a result, the decline that occurred has eroded the potential value of dividends distributed so that investors tend to sell UNVR shares. Because UNVR is one of those that almost distributes all its net profits as dividends,” said Audi to CNNIndonesia.comWednesday (15/11).

“It’s true (the boycott also had an impact on UNVR’s performance). I saw investors immediately react to the response to the boycott,” he added.

He predicts that the boycott will have a negative impact on sales of Unilever Indonesia products. In the end, it was inevitable that investors would leave UNVR in droves.

(skt/sfr)