Canadian organic food and beverages manufacturer SunOpta has announced the “termination” of its president and chief executive David Colo.
Colo will no longer sit on the board of directors, Toronto-based SunOpta said in a statement today (26 February), adding that Katrina Houde will serve as interim CEO to “facilitate an orderly transition”. Houde has been a director at the firm, which also produces ingredients along with organic non-GMO foods, since 2000.
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An executive search agency has been employed to find a successor to Colo.
Toronto- and Nasdaq-listed SunOpta is in the midst of a “value creation plan” launched in 2017 with the aim of boosting the company’s financial performance. Yesterday, the business announced it had sold its organic soy and corn operations to US-based Pipeline Foods for CAD66.5m (US$50.5m).
SunOpta’s chairman Dean Hollis said on Colo’s departure: “On behalf of the board of directors, I would like to thank David for his contributions to SunOpta and wish him well in his future endeavours. Over the last two years, the foundation of the company has been strengthened, and SunOpta is now through the first phase of the value creation plan. The board is moving quickly to identify the next CEO who will accelerate our efforts to drive long-term, sustainable, shareholder value.”
Houde said the next stage of the plan would encompass improving productivity in SunOpta’s “core” consumer products business. The interim CEO said the business had sold unprofitable and non-core operations under the value creation strategy, which has returned the company to growth.
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By GlobalDataThe value creation plan is based on four areas falling within “portfolio optimisation, operational excellence, go-to-market effectiveness, and process sustainability”.
She added further comment on the business disposal to Pipeline Foods in a separate earnings release today: “The sale of our speciality and organic soy and corn business is consistent with our portfolio optimisation strategy designed to simplify the business, invest where structural advantages exist, and exit businesses or product lines where the company is not effectively positioned to drive long-term profitable growth.
“This decision allows us to reduce debt and redeploy capital to further enhance our growing consumer products and international organic sourcing platforms.”
SunOpta said in its earnings statement it realised CAD20m in productivity savings last year. However, revenues declined 1.5% to CAD1.26bn, while its net loss narrowed to CAD109m from the previous year’s loss of CAD134m.
