The Government has welcomed a multi-million investment in Merseyside and the North West by Unilever. The Anglo–Dutch consumer products giant announced the £200m expansion during a visit by the Prime Minister and Chancellor to the company’s Port Sunlight factory.
The financial commitment will see the opening of a new global information technology centre, the completion of a high-tech personal care factory — producing British brands such as TRESemmé and Radox — and several new research and development facilities in collaboration with academic institutions across the region.
“Unilever is an iconic company that exports around the world,” commented George Osborne (pictured). “Its decision to invest £200m in the Port Sunlight site secures jobs for the future and is fantastic news for the region and a vote of confidence in the UK.”
The Government also hopes that research spin-offs will enable the North West to hold its own as one of the most innovative regions in the country.
“These highly skilled jobs in an export industry are exactly the kind of opportunities we want to see created, which is why in last month’s Autumn Statement I provided further incentives for research and development in the UK,” added the Chancellor. “I want Britain to be a country where companies want to invest and create jobs.”
William Lever founded his original company, in the model village of Port Sunlight, more than 125 years ago. In 1929 Unilever was created by the merger of Lever Brothers and the Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie.
Today it is one of the world’s largest consumer goods companies and employs more than 2,500 people at its Port Sunlight site. When the latest construction and expansion round is complete the London-headquartered company will have more than a third of its UK workforce on Merseyside.
Unilever recently opened a global information technology hub on its Merseyside complex, staffed by 800 workers and designed to help it evaluate and respond to market developments.
Work is already underway on a personal care products factory, due to open later this year. And it has agreed a joint venture facility — the Materials Innovations Factory — to be built and shared with the University of Liverpool.
“Port Sunlight is Unilever’s historic home stretching back more than 100 years,” said the conglomerate’s UK and Ireland executive chairman, Graeme Pitkethly, “Today we operate in more than 190 countries.”
He said that with everyday products and brands produced on Merseyside found in nine out of 10 British households, “our £200m investment in Unilever Port Sunlight is a significant moment that will provide a platform for our business in the UK and across the globe for years to come.
“We are proud to have had the opportunity to show the Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer the investments made and to demonstrate Port Sunlight’s continued strategic importance as we look to the future and continue to build on the Lever legacy.”
