Nestlé salutes its boss after eight years

Nestlé Chief Executive Mark Schneider is stepping down after eight years at the helm as sales continue to fall at the world’s largest packaged food company.

He will be replaced by Laurent Freixe, who is executive vice president and managing director for the Latin American business.

Freixe, 62, who has been with Nestlé for nearly two decades, will take up the post at the beginning of September.

But the restructuring comes at a difficult time for Nestlé, which last month cut its full-year sales outlook.

The Swiss group, whose brands include KitKat, Smarties and Cheerios, revealed it had to rein in price increases sooner than it would have liked as consumers became more cost-sensitive.

Consumer goods companies such as London-listed rivals Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser have come under enormous pressure from falling volumes, slowing growth and weaker demand.

Shoppers have switched from branded products to supermarket own brands as high inflation and high interest rates continue to take their toll.

This has weighed heavily on Nestlé’s shares, which have fallen 14% in the past year. It will step up product launches to turn its fortunes around, and last month Schneider said Nestlé was in “repair mode”.

But during his tenure, Schneider was praised for selling off some units, including the skin health division, and doubling down on health and wellness.

Nestlé shares rose by around a fifth during his time in charge and the company is now worth £210bn.