Associated British Foods (ABF) has appointed Joana Edwards as the group chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Additionally, she is set to join the ABF board as an executive director. Edwards has previously served as the group interim finance director since 31 March 2025 and was in the role of group financial controller before that.

She brings decades of international finance experience to the role, having joined the company in 2020 after working across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Africa with expertise in FMCG and consumer-facing industries.

Prior to joining ABF, Edwards worked as group financial controller at L’Oréal after holding a number of executive finance director roles across the regions and business units.

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George Weston, CEO of ABF, said: “Joana is a highly experienced financial leader who over the past twelve months has demonstrated a clear understanding of ABF’s business and operating model, rigour in the execution of her role and a passion for building high-performing teams.

“Joana will continue to play a key role in delivering the group’s strategic priorities.”

Edwards said: “During my time at ABF, I have worked closely with our teams across the business and have seen first-hand the strength of our portfolio, the resilience of our model and the depth of talent we have across the organisation.

“I will focus on disciplined capital allocation, cost management and cash generation while ensuring we invest behind the areas of greatest strategic potential.”

This appointment comes after the food manufacturer posted mixed results earlier this year for the 16 weeks to 3 January, with agriculture and sugar revenues falling.