Still, there’s a while left yet before Mr Fitzgerald and his shareholders have to make their choice.jeremy.warner independent.co.uk. THIS JULY, 80 of Unilever’s highest of high fliers will abandon the comfort of everyday life and get on board a plane. Their challenge? Six days away with Niall FitzGerald, their opinionated co-chairman. They won’t know where they’re headed, but – figuratively at least – they will be in the same boat as Mr FitzGerald. Talking business is not the main aim; learning how to be honest and open is.

For Mr FitzGerald, this year’s trip will be an opportunity to take stock not only of how far the company and its most talented employees have come, but, more importantly, where it is going.The mystery tours date back to the genesis of Unilever’s recent transformation, which yesterday saw it report its strongest set of annual figures for many moons. It will come as no surprise to learn that the away break trend was started by the marathon-running, left-leaning Mr FitzGerald, who promises that this July’s destination will be as “wild and different” as previous trips to the likes of Costa Rica, Iceland and Croatia. “It’s always a surprise,” he says of the country on the boarding pass, adding: “It’s about forcing people out of their comfort zone, about being in a very different place.”For Unilever, 2003 finds it in a very different place to a decade ago. The past three years have seen the Anglo-Dutch consumer products giant shake up its world by embarking on a vast restructuring exercise that goes by the name of “Path to Growth”.

The big question, once the five-year programme has run its course at the end of 2004, is where does Unilever go from there? The even bigger question, for some, is where does Mr FitzGerald go from there?A Unilever man through and through, the trim Irishman did not always mean it to be thus. He found his way into what today is the world’s 68th biggest company by accident, after accompanying a friend to an interview there, 34 years ago. He has held the top post, which he shares with his co-chairman, Anthony Burgmans, for seven years and was giving nothing away on when – or whether – he planned to give it up “We’re doing great but we’re not finished We won’t be finished until 2004. [After that] we’ll see,” he said.Analysts are split on the subject of how long Mr FitzGerald will stay. David Lang, at Investec Securities, said: “He’ll see out Path to Growth and then we’ll have to see. I don’t think he’ll overstay his welcome.” Others have suggested that 2005 would be a natural point for Mr FitzGerald to take on other challenges. Wild rumours flooded the City last autumn that he would be prepared to swap his role at Unilever for the chairmanship of Reuters, the troubled information group, whose board he joined at the start of this year.Another option could be the life of a European politician.