AMSTERDAM, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Anglo-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever (UNc.AS: Quote, Profile, Research) is considering options for outsourcing its finance, human resources and IT divisions although no final decisions have been made, a company spokesman said on Thursday.
He added that Unilever had selected IBM (IBM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Accenture (ACN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) as potential service providers.
"If you consider the size and global reach of Unilever, then obviously hundreds of jobs would be affected by any decision to outsource," the spokesman added.
But he dismissed a German media report that up to 2,500 jobs could be lost as "highly speculative".
Unilever employs 234,000 people in about 100 countries worldwide.
"As we are exploring these options now, it would be unusual if we did not start to implement any decisions by 2006," the spokesman said.
