Unilever CEO Hein Schumacher has announced his resignation in a shock move that will see him leave, a year-and-a-half after taking the job.
The outgoing boss will be replaced by current chief financial officer Fernando Fernandez, who will take the helm from 1 March.
Schumacher will relinquish his role at the end of February and leave the business on 31 May.
Fernandez was promoted to CFO last January, before which he ran the business’s beauty and wellbeing business, a fast-growing arm of Unilever. He’s also headed the Latin America, Brazil and Philippines business units.
Why is Unilever’s CEO leaving?
Unilever chair Ian Meakins paid tribute to Schumacher’s impact on the business, highlighting the CEO’s approach to resetting the strategy, bringing focus and discipline, “and for the solid financial progress delivered during 2024″.
“The growth action plan has put Unilever on a path to higher performance and the board is committed to accelerating its execution,” he added.
Outgoing Schumacher will continue to receive his fixed pay of €1.85m until he leaves, nearly 18 months after taking up the role in July 2023. He would be treated as a “good leaver”, with regards to his outstanding incentives.
He said: “It has been a privilege to lead Unilever. We have made real progress and I am proud of what we have achieved in a short period of time.”
Fernandez, meanwhile, had impressed the board with his “decisive and results-oriented approach, as well as his ability to quickly drive impactful change,” said Meakins.
The new CEO has a strong track record of performance and portfolio management, a love of brands and a “profound knowledge of Unilever’s operations”, he added.
Fernandez said: “Our focus will be on building a future-fit portfolio with an attractive growth footprint and delivering unmatched functional and perceivable superiority across our top 30 power brands.”
Unilever’s strong 2024 financials
Unilever posted admirable full-year 2024 financial results this month, with sales up 4.2% on the back of power brand growth of 5.3% and volumes up 2.9%.
At the same time the business also announced a new home for its separated ice cream business, which would be incorporated in the Netherlands and headquartered in Amsterdam.
As part of his growth plans, Schumacher announced Unilever would ditch the difficult ice cream business, though a sale proved tough and a move to separate was made instead.
Within the same growth strategy, Unilever would also rid itself of over €1bn of food brands, premiumise and quadruple innovation.
As part of this, Unox and Zwan were sold last year, while rumours its Vegetarian Butcher brand was up for sale also surfaced.