Unilever PLC (LSE:ULVR) shares showed a jump of nearly 13% in early trading on Tuesday, after the consumer goods giant completed a share consolidation following the demerger of its ice cream arm, The Magnum Ice Cream Company.
Analysts also rushed to back the FTSE 100 group in its new slimmer guise, with both Barclays and JPMorgan believing a game-changing period is on the way.
The share consolidation was carried out at a ratio of eight new shares for every nine existing shares, with admission of the new shares taking place at the start of trading on Tuesday.
Because some investors' shareholdings will not convert neatly under the new ratio, Unilever said will pool the resulting fractional shares and sell them into the market, returning the net cash proceeds to shareholders.
Following the consolidation, the FTSE 100 company has 2,232,630,400 ordinary shares in issue, of which 2,180,690,335 will carry voting rights once treasury shares and group-held shares are excluded.
The share consolidation will not change the ratio of shares represented by each American Depositary Share, which remains one-to-one and will see the new ADSs also take place when trading in New York begins.
At 4,683p, the Unilever shares more than recouped the fall seen the previous day and took the shares back to where they were in late October.