PG Tips could be sold by Unilever as Brits continue to drink less tea

The company has not yet confirmed whether this will be a full or partial sale

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

PG Tips and Lipton tea could be sold by brand owner Unilever as Brits continue to drink less black tea.

The consumer goods giant, which owns Magnum, Ben & Jerry's, Marmite and Pot Noodle among others, made the announcement on Thursday following speculation about a potential sale.

The classic cuppa has been falling out of public favour in the last couple of years with herbal teas taking a greater share of the market, such as Unilever’s Pukka tea.

The brand previously called British tea drinkers a “dying breed”.

Chief executive of Unilever, Alan Jope, who took over last year, says it is part of wider plans to refocus the firm and concentrate on fewer premium brands.

He has previously said that only “brands with purpose” will be kept on and those without a clear social or environmental function will be sold off.

Unilever announced its slowest quarterly growth in a decade with sales in the last three months of 2019 up just 1.5 per cent.

The brand said it estimated a far stronger performance in 2020 but was looking at “all options” for changing the tea business.

It did not confirm whether this would include a full or partial sale of the PG Tips and Lipton names.

Despite the uncertainty around its future, Lipton is still one of Unilever’s seven highest-earning brands. The others are Dove soap, Knorr food products, Persil detergent, Rexona deodorant, Hellmann’s mayonnaise and Wall’s ice cream.

According to research firm Kantar, demand for traditional black tea has fallen by 2.7 per cent in the last two years.

In contrast, demand has risen for other types of tea, with herbal teas now worth £52m and cold infusions valued at £11.2m.

In November 2019 The Grocer reported that Unilever was considering selling the brands but there was no confirmation.

Earlier this month, Unilever confirmed it would be making around 100 redundancies in 2020 and 2021. It already cut 125 jobs last year.