Nestlé CEO restructures global operations as it lowers sales guidance
Nestlé’s new chief executive Laurent Freixe has restructured the business and its executive team to be “leaner” as it cut its guidance after weaker-than-expected sales.
The FMCG giant, which owns Nescafé, Purina and Kit Kat, saw a 2% underlying sales rise in the first nine months of the year, and trimmed its full-year guidance to 2% growth, down from its previous guidance of at least 3%, which itself was a downgrade from its earlier estimate of 4%. It follows Nestlé raising its prices.
In Freixe’s first major move since being appointed CEO last month, he announced the unification of Zone Latin America (LATAM) and Zone North America, the addition of Zone Greater China Region to become part of Zone Asia, Oceania and Africa (AOA) and other senior leadership shake-ups.
Frexie said the organisational changes are aimed at making the executive board “leaner” and “increas[ing] simplicity, speed[ing] up decision-making and strengthen[ing] the momentum behind global initiatives”.
He added: “All the leaders of key units driving our performance and our transformation will now report directly to me.”
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“This is crucial, as we sharpen our focus on consumers and customers and restore investment in our brands and in innovation to expand market share and accelerate our performance.
“Going forward, we are also placing a greater emphasis on Nestlé’s digital transformation into a real-time, end-to-end connected, data- and AI-powered organization. I am confident these changes will optimally position Nestlé for future success.”
Speaking to the Financial Times, he added: “Nestlé is not broken, Nestlé is up and running. And we will make sure that all this potential is realised going forward.”
Frexie’s appointment came after former CEO Mark Schneider stepped down after eight years with the FMCG giant. In July, Nestlé adjusted its full-year guidance for 2024 to lower its sales outlook it revealed prices in the half-year eased “faster than expected”.
