MOSCOW (MRC) -- Carlsberg has announced that President and CEO, Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen, is to retire from the Carlsberg Group, reported the company on its site.
Cees ‘t Hart, currently CEO of the Dutch dairy company Royal FrieslandCampina, one of the largest dairy companies in the world, is appointed President and CEO. Jorgen will retire and Cees will start 15 June 2015.
Cees ‘t Hart, Dutch, has been CEO of Royal FrieslandCampina since 2008 where he led the integration of two former competitors Friesland Foods and Campina, developed the strategy route2020 and re-engineered the business model to deliver sustainable growth and value creation. In this period revenues grew from Euro 8.2bn to Euro 11.4bn, and margins increased significantly in part through the creation of an international supply chain. The company, now one of the most successful dairies in the world, has operations in 32 countries across Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa, and sells its products in over 100 markets. This includes a substantial presence in China. Prior to joining Royal FrieslandCampina, Cees had a 25 year impressive international career at Unilever across Eastern and Western Europe, and Asia. His last position at Unilever was as a member of the Europe Executive Board.
Commenting on the change, Chairman of the Supervisory Board Flemming Besenbacher says: "The Carlsberg Group has good underlying fundamentals, and the Board and Jorgen are in full alignment that now is the right time to make a change and secure progress and continuity at the top executive level for a number of years ahead. I am delighted that Cees ‘t Hart will be joining the Group to do this. He has great international experience and a strong track record, and will propose the next phase strategy for Carlsberg Group’s long-term profitable and sustainable growth.
"On behalf of the Supervisory Board I would like to thank Jorgen for his significant contribution to the Group’s evolution during the past seven years. Performance has been strong across many geographies but of course challenged by macro-economic developments in Russia. Jorgen is handing over a Carlsberg with a transformed geographic footprint, a strong international leadership team and a more commercially capable and efficient organisation."
As MRC wrote previously, Danish brewer Carlsberg reduced operating profit by 22% in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to a strong decline in sales in its home market - Russia.
The Carlsberg Group is a Danish brewing company founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen with headquarters located in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company's flagship brand is Carlsberg Beer (named after Jacobsen's son Carl) but it also brews Tuborg, Kronenbourg, Somersby cider, Russia's best selling beer Baltika, Belgian Grimbergen abbey beers as well more than 500 local beers.
MRC