(Alliance News) - Unilever PLC on Thursday announced a series of changes to its division leadership, partly triggered by the internal promotion of a new finance chief, as it also reported a small decline in third-quarter revenue and revealed an "action plan" to boost growth.
Unilever shares were down 2.4% to 3,918.50 pence early Thursday in London.
Fernando Fernandez will step up to chief financial officer from president of the Beauty & Wellbeing business group. Previously, he led Unilever's business in Brazil and then all of Latin America.
Fernandez will replace Graeme Pitkethly effective from January 1 and join the board at that time. Pitkethly's decision to retire was announced back in May. He will remain an employee until May next year, having joined Unilever in 2002 before becoming CFO in 2015.
Replacing Fernandez as president of Beauty & Wellbeing will be Priya Nair, the division's chief marketing officer.
Separately, Hanneke Faber, president of Nutrition, will leave Unilever for a "new opportunity externally", with a replacement still to be announced. As well, Matt Close, president of Ice Cream, will leave the company at the end of 2023. Unilever didn't provide a reason for Close's departure but noted he has had a 31-year career at the company.
Peter ter Kulve, president of Home Care, will become president of Ice Cream, where he has previously worked, and Eduardo Campanella, chief marketing officer of Home Care, will be promoted to president of Home Care.
Meanwhile, Esi Eggleston Bracey, general manager of Personal Care North America and head of Country US, has been appointed to the new role of chief growth & marketing officer for Unilever.
Chief Executive Officer Hein Schumacher commented about new CFO Fernandez: "His deep financial and business experience, strategic acumen and leadership qualities will be critical in helping to drive the step-up in Unilever's performance that we are all determined to deliver."
Turning to recent trading, Unilever said turnover in the third quarter was EUR15.24 billion, down 3.8% from a year before, though underlying sales growth was positive 5.2%. For the first nine months of the year, turnover was EUR45.78 billion, up 0.4% on year, with 7.7% underlying sales growth.
All divisions recorded lower turnover in the recent quarter. Beauty & Wellbeing was down 4.9%, Personal Care down 2.2%, Home Care down 4.1%, Nutrition down 2.4%, and Ice Cream down 6.5%. All divisions are up on the year in the first nine months as whole, other than Nutrition, which is down 5.7%.
Unilever said its 2023 outlook remains unchanged, calling for underlying sales growth above 5% and a "modest" improvement to underlying operating margin.
The company also on Thursday set out an "action plan" to improve growth.
"Our performance in recent years has not matched our potential," Schumacher said. "The quality of our growth, productivity and returns have all under-delivered.
"Today we are setting out our action plan to close this gap. We will drive faster growth by stepping up innovation and investment behind our Power Brands; we will drive simplicity and productivity, leveraging the full strength of our operating model; and we will sharpen our performance culture through strong leadership and stretching goals."
By Tom Waite, Alliance News editor
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