Schumacher’s plan to offload Unilever’s ice-creams has a very familiar flavour | Nils Pratley

Hein Schumacher, Unilever’s new-ish chief executive, has already dialled down the worthy corporate sermons on social purpose. Now he’s ditching the ice-creams, including the famous names of Wall’s, Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s, and shedding 7,500 jobs elsewhere. Is this the hard-headed change of direction that shareholders, muttering about a sleepy share price and complacency in the boardroom for at least a decade, have been demanding? Well, possibly. But the script also has a familiar feel.Remember that Schumacher’s two predecessors also tried slimming the corporate beast by…