Second, our Power Brands will also benefit from an equally new and distinctive approach that we are taking to the way that we think about and systematize innovation. The priority now is a multiyear scalable programs that will drive category growth and premiumization and expansion into new segments and geographies. Again, the process being put in place to drive, track and measure this is rigorous. Scale and multiyear benefits will come from a focus on big platforms, not small projects. So platforms that leverage differentiating R&D strengths, whether, for example, in biotechnology, on microbiome and which generates significant increases and incremental turnover. This will be supported by a step-up in R&D investment, which as you heard from Fernando, now sits at 1.6% of turnover.
And let me illustrate the approach we are taking by reference to one example of how I see it working in practice. Vaseline Gluta-Hya, a great product for one of our Power Brands. It’s flying and why? Because it combines strong brand equity, breakthrough technology called GlutaGlow, which is a patented technology and it’s clinically proven to be 10x more powerful than vitamin C for boosting skin’s brightness. It is delivered in a consumer-preferred light sensory format with competitive levels of investment. And it is built on a multiyear global platform that is carrying it to new markets and to new more premium segments such as serum sun protection and a Pro-Age range. It is already in 12 markets, and this month, it launches in China. And this is just a kind of scalable multiyear, multi-platform examples we want to replicate more extensively.
And there are, of course, other examples like our patented and superior technology in Deodorants, which is driving premiumization through the 72-hour nonstop protection platform. And this has now been rolled out across 3 Power Brands, Rexona, Dove and Axe, in 40 markets driving double-digit growth we now see in Deodorants. Similarly, Hellmann’s is also benefiting from multiyear innovation platforms like Hellmann’s Vegan supported by deep R&D expertise to deliver great taste in a plant-based product. Over 6 years, it has reached 34 markets and is on track to hit EUR 100 million in turnover next year. Hellmann’s, by the way, has been growing double digits for 4 consecutive years now adding EUR 1 billion turnover since 2019. So we have some great examples of scaling innovations through multiyear technology-backed platforms.
We just need more of them, and that is what this plan is designed to achieve. In fact, we are confident that, taken together, the increased rigor and prioritization we’re applying both to brand superiority and innovation will help to drive the performance of our Power Brands, and with it, the overall growth prospects for the business. I want to turn now to the second element of the growth action plan, productivity and simplicity. Let me go straight to gross margin. I make no apology for that. Anyone who has heard me speak over recent months will know how much store I place on gross margin recovery and on getting it back to at least prepandemic levels. And I can assure you that, that message has landed loud and clear inside the business. And the fact is we have been too slow in recovering the gross margin that we lost during the pandemic, which has constrained volume growth and depressed our bottom line.
But the good news is the position has started to reverse in 2023 and accelerated in the second half of the year by 330 basis points, as you heard from Fernando. And we are now building on this forward momentum, first, by continuing to work price and mix, but also by shifting focus to the important cost side. And we’ve seen some progress here already. The organization is fully focused on net productivity programs, replacing the previous focus on gross savings. Business group implementation plans are in place. We are striving for lower complexity with over 20% reductions in SKUs, raw and packed materials and number of suppliers. We have arrested the increases in cost per tonne of recent years. And our integrated operations delivered significant working capital improvements.
So we will build on this momentum throughout 2024 and beyond with a relentless focus on a few big ideas. And these include network optimization of the kind that we’ve undertaken recently in Beauty & Wellbeing in the U.S.; vertical integration of some of our key materials; further cost per tonne improvements through operating discipline, such as tight waste management; and investing a higher proportion of CapEx behind net productivity savings; and importantly, pursuing further improvements in working capital. When I spoke to you in October, I also signaled a significant shift in the way we intended to approach our sustainability commitments. And we deliberately included this under the productivity and simplicity section of the Growth Action plan.
The fact is by limiting our corporate focus to 4 key platforms, climate, plastics, regenerative nature and livelihoods, we believe we can have a greater impact over a shorter time frame. However, we’ll only achieve that greater impact if we apply, as we are, exactly the same rigor, discipline and stretch to our sustainability targets as we are to other areas of the plan, and importantly, that we hold ourselves accountable to very transparent and measurable goals. You will get a sense very soon on how we intend to do that when we publish our second climate transition action plan for shareholder consideration. And for the moment, I hope the direction of travel is clear, namely, and again, fewer priorities done better with greater impact. So now let me turn to the third element of the plan, dialing up performance culture.
And specifically, we said that we would refresh the team and find ways to drive and reward outperformance. And we’ve made good progress on both. You will have seen this morning’s announcement of a further change to the Unilever executive, Nitin Paranjpe, our Chief People and Transformation Officer, indicated to me some months back that he wanted to retire from Unilever in June. And I’m grateful to Nitin for all he has done over a long and distinguished career. And I’m very pleased to bring in a worthy successor in Mairéad Nayager, currently Chief Human Resource Officer at Haleon, and prior to that, at Diageo. And I’m confident that Mairéad will play a key role in delivering this plan and helping to drive Unilever forward. And with just one position to fill in Nutrition, which we anticipate to announce shortly, it means that last summer over half of our executive leadership team will have changed, either people or roles.
The new team is already working to put in place the means necessary to sharpen the company’s performance edge. And on driving stronger performance, we have, for example, put in place a new, more stringent goal-setting process. We’ve introduced greater transparency in the way that performance is measured and assessed. And we’ve streamlined leadership behavior standards. These are now focused on those areas most likely lead to a step-up in performance. And then on reward for performance. Our approach is being guided by 3 principles: one, a better line of sight, two, greater differentiation; and three, more focus on in-year performance. And these principles have already been brought together in a remodeled reward structure for approximately 15,000 of our managers.
And of course, the full impact of these changes will take time, but I’m confident that we are moving with the right level of urgency in making the changes that are necessary and in putting in place the framework needed to hasten a step-up in performance culture at Unilever. So let me bring this to life a little further. We identified a performance issue in Ice Cream and we’ve moved quickly to change the leader, but that was only the beginning because since then we have refreshed the entire leadership team, replacing 80% of country and regional leaders in Ice Cream. We’ve reduced the overall size of the leadership team. We’ve externally benchmarked our overheads with a target to bring them to industry-leading standards. And we significantly rationalized our SKUs, taking out more than 1/3 in 2023.
And finally, we’re doubling down on meaningful, scalable big bet innovations. Now I mentioned this just to demonstrate that we won’t hesitate to move decisively and surgically whenever we feel it is necessary to address underperformance or root out inefficiencies. We will not wait. So that is our Growth Action Plan, and as you can see, it’s all stepping up execution in order to improve the quality, the speed and the competitiveness of our growth. Let me try to sum up briefly before we go to questions. The results for last year confirmed that we have pockets of real strength, which yield some great returns. But they also highlight that there are important gaps to close and opportunities to be better scaled and exploited. And our Growth Action Plan addresses those very gaps and opportunities.
But with a scalpel, not a bludgeon. This is a very operational plan. It is based on a simple premise: the need to do fewer things better and with greater impact underpinned by real rigor and discipline in the way we go about everything. Inevitably, the full benefits will take time to work through, but I am confident that they will. The plan has given rise to a huge amount of activity in the company, but the principles and the objectives underpinning it on which I am totally focused are very clear: a switch to net activity to drive gross margin and thereby boost our volume performance, a greater operational grip to drive our competitiveness and this all leading ultimately to a more consistent delivery. Thank you for listening. We look forward to updating you further throughout the year on progress against the plan.
And in the meantime, I hope this has provided a little bit more color on how we are implementing the plan and where we are seeing the early signs of progress. And now I look forward to taking your questions.
A – Unidentified Company Representative: Good morning. Many thanks for joining the call. [Operator Instructions]. So I see our first question is from Tom Sykes at Deutsche Bank.
Thomas Sykes: Just on the guidance of the 3% to 5%, I suppose the mix of price and volume growth and the cadence of that in the year. You’ve obviously got some quite strong volume growth in categories that might be a little bit more seasonal, things like Beauty, possibly Wellbeing. Is it — would you be able to replicate that volume growth in those slightly more seasonal areas again in H1? Or should we think of some of the volume mix improvement may be difficult to replicate the Q4 number in H1, but a little bit more H2 weighted? And then, sorry, just on the sort of culturally changing the business and you’ve obviously mentioned the different aspects to that. Do you think you have a more difficult cultural problem in changing competitiveness in DMs versus EMs at all across your business? And what has been the response internally to some of the remuneration changes you’ve put through, please?
Hein Schumacher: Thanks for your question. Let me first come back on the — it’s Hein speaking, by the way, Tom. So let me first come back on your — on the question on growth and then I’ll talk a little bit about the cultural change. Look, I mean, if you think about it, in Q4, we realized a 1.8% volume growth, 3 out of 5 business groups are now in positive volume territory, so that’s a good thing. And we saw some sequential movement throughout the year in Q3 — somewhat minor Q3; Q4, more convincingly. And I think if we step into the year, I wouldn’t say there is a massive first half or second half development. We’re looking for a healthy composition of our guidance between mix, price and volume. And obviously, with easing inflation, clearly, volumes have to play a part in our overall growth story.
If you look at the guidance in itself, the 3% to 5%, I think we’ve been quite consistent about that. Our internal ambition is obviously higher. We’re always seeking at the upper end of the range, but it’s still a bit early in the year. Clearly, we’re balancing it all out with our gross margin improvement. So you’ve probably picked up on the 330 basis point improvement in the second half of the year, and that’s an important metric for us going forward. So — and yes, now let me leave it there on the growth side. If you think of the cultural piece or the performance culture and the improvements and what it means to our people, I mean, we’ve implemented the remuneration changes that we talked about at the end of Q3. We did it at pace. And I would say, yes, I’m seeing a really improved momentum in the company.
