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Unilever Stopped and They’re Not Moving to The Netherlands Now – What Happened?

During the past few days, the news regarding Unilever has been talked about in most of the economics circles around the world. This decision has caught everyone’s attention and it’s starting to worry about a lot of business people. If you don’t quite understand what this is all about, in here we give you the necessary info to know what’s going on:

Unilever


Unilever is a British-Dutch transnational famous for owning over 400 brands, such as Dove, Axe, Ben & Jerry’s, Hellmann’s, Rexona, among others. Nowadays, it’s the third biggest British firm in the market. Its main offices are located in Rotterdam and London.

The Moving

Last March, the company made the decision of moving its office from Britain to the Netherlands. According to official sources, this decision was made in order to abolish the dividend tax. In simple words: Big companies will avoid paying a huge amount of money in taxes.

However, last Friday it was announced that the moving stopped due to the increasing pressure applied by British stockholders. This measure is only temporary, though, as it can change whenever the company finishes evaluating the most convenient choice to make.

Why Are British Stockholders Interested In Unilever?


The British stockholders claim that if big companies, such as Unilever, maintain their offices in the United Kingdom, they will help the nation overcome the consequences of the Brexit. If the companies move away, London will not be the global financial center anymore, which will harm international economic systems.

In fact, worldwide financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund claim that if the Brexit turns out to be harder than it is expected, one of the economic allied countries that will suffer the most is the Netherlands.

If Unilever decides to keep its offices in London, this will get more important companies to trust the United Kingdom as a global financial center.