Denmark-based meat cooperative Danish Crown has appointed “problem solver” Steve Francis as CEO of the group’s troubled UK subsidiary Tulip with effect from 5 September.
Tulip said Francis will succeed Chris Thomas, who has stepped down “as a consequence of the challenges facing the business”, which Danish Crown said will end the year with a loss.
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“Fierce competition in the retail market, increasing raw material prices, the loss of significant contracts and internal issues with productivity and pricing are amongst the challenges” facing Tulip, its parent said. “Francis brings with him extensive experience from the meat industry and of restructuring and turning around manufacturing companies.”
Danish Crown CEO Jais Valeur, who thanked Thomas for his work over the past three years, said the group was turning to Francis as someone “with extensive international experience of turning around companies which are facing difficulties”.
“He has experience from several sectors, including the food and the meat industries, and he is described as an expert in solving complex problems in companies where ‘that’s what we usually do’ no longer suffices,” Valeur said. “In the course of his career, our new CEO has on several occasions demonstrated that he is able to effect change within a short period of time. Over the summer, we have realised that there are significant gains to be made through more focused efforts and closer cooperation with the rest of the group. We want to regain our position as the preferred choice among consumers and customers in the key UK market.”
Francis, who has worked for international companies such as McKinsey, PwC and Barclays, has held a number of executive positions with the Netherlands-based meat processor slaughterhouse Vion Food Group. Most recently, Francis was CEO of UK print company Danwood, where Danish Crown said “he turned a loss of more than DKK80m (US$12m) into a profit of more than DKK50m ($7.5m) within the space 12 months”.
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By GlobalDataDanish Crown said in May its profits were coming under pressure in what it described as a “tough” retail market. The group posted net profit of EUR819m ($912.8m) for the first six months of its 2015/16 financial year, compared to EUR852m a year earlier.
The group said Tulip had been “battling particularly strong headwinds” and stressed “targeted efforts are being made to strengthen the company’s position”. The announcement came after Danish Crown revealed plans to axe 121 jobs at Tulip’s Bromborough site in the UK. However, the meat cooperative said it was creating 100 jobs at another Tulip site, in King’s Lynn in Norfolk, which produces cooked, sliced meat products for the retail and foodservice sectors.
