European Consumer Staples: R&D Talent Moves Up the Mix

Research evidence excerpt

European Consumer Staples: R&D Talent Moves Up the Mix

Equity Research

19 June 2026

European Consumer Staples

R&D Talent Moves Up the Mix

Scientist headcount rose 20% since the pandemic, over 2x

total workforce growth, lifting scientists to 2.9% of employees

— a clear signal of rising investment in science-led European Consumer Staples NEUTRAL

innovations. European Consumer Staples

Warren Ackerman

With consumers increasingly demanding products that deliver tangible benefits — whether +44 (0)20 3134 1903

through health, nutrition, efficacy, performance, beauty science or sustainability — we believe warren.ackerman@barclays.com

scientific capability is becoming an increasingly important source of differentiation across Barclays, UK

European Consumer Staples. As argued earlier in Rule #4: “R&D is the new A&P” in our Global Abhishek Gokhale

Consumer Staples: The new rules of the FMCG game (20th Jan'26), we view the build-out of +91 (0)22 6175 1952

abhishek.gokhale@barclays.comscientific talent as one observable labour-market signal of how companies are repositioning

Barclays, UK

their organisations for more science-led innovation. The U.S. Food note, U.S. Food: Following the

Varshil ModiScience‘tists’ (2nd Jun'26) used scientist headcount as a useful directional indicator of R&D

+91 (0)22 6175 3995

intensity, while also acknowledging that headcount is only a partial proxy for true innovation

varshil.modi@barclays.com

capability. Barclays, UK

Across our covered EU Food and HPC basket — Lindt, Danone, Essity, Henkel, L’Oréal, Nestlé, Shashank Gupta

Reckitt and Unilever — scientists accounted for 2.87% of total employees in May 2026, up from +91 (0)22 6719 6093

2.62% in May 2019. While the +25 bps increase in mix may appear modest, the absolute shashank.gupta4@barclays.com