Food group: Second boss change in one year – Nestlé under pressure

The world’s largest food group Nestlé is in turbulence within twelve months after the second chief chest. The share price was temporarily under pressure after the Frenchman Laurent Freixe (63) on the Swiss stock exchange.

In the dismissed Frenchman Freixe, the reason was a romantic relationship with a manager that he is said to have hidden. According to the company, this violates the company’s ethical principles. However, Freixe was not undisputed anyway. Investors were dissatisfied with his business results.

Freixe had only replaced his predecessor, the German manager and former Fresenius boss Mark Schneider a year ago. Schneider had to go in September 2024 because the board of directors wanted more growth. Under Schneider and Freixe, the 2024 share price was broken by almost a quarter. Freixes balance 2025 was also a slight minus recently.

The new one is relatively young

Now the Swiss Philipp Navratil (49) should judge it. However, it does not bring a fresh wind from the outside. Like his predecessor, he completed a large part of his career at Nestlé. Navratil has been in the internal revision since 2001 and most recently head of the Nespresso coffee business. He has been in the group management since the beginning of January.

David Hayes from the investment bank Jefferies, promptly asked why Nestlé once again appointed a boss from his own ranks instead of taking time for a comprehensive assessment of internal and external candidates.

Chairman of the Board of Directors Paul Bulcke praised Navratils “impressive track record” and his “dynamic charisma”. The company wants to maintain its strategic course under Navratil, but increase the pace in growth and efficiency.

One of the first tasks of Navratil will be to lead Nestlé out of the series of negative headlines, said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, analyst at the Bank Vontobel. He described the manager as “exceptionally direct, ambitious and consistently result -oriented.” Analyst James Edwardes Jones from the Canadian Bank RBC said that the new boss for Nestlé relationships is relatively young for Nestlé relationships.

Freixe had focused on the core business and margin -strong premium products, among other things, but he did not advance the weakening business with China. In the area of ​​water, Nestlé suffered sharp criticism in France because it is said to have filtered spring water in an inadmissible way and still driven out as natural mineral water.

Change of personnel as a signal for strategic new beginning

Persistent changes in personnel have recently not brought Nestlé into calm fairway. In addition to the new CFO Anna Manz, there were also several changes among the regional chiefs. In addition, the long -standing board of directors Bulcke will no longer compete for re -election next year. Vice President Pablo Isla is said to be the successor. The Spaniard headed the Inditex fashion group until 2022 and was never operational at Nestlé. This is considered a break with the Nestlé tradition and is interpreted by some observers as a signal for a strategic new beginning.

Nestlé was founded in 1866. The company sells over 2,000 brands in areas such as coffee, water, baby food, dairy products, frozen food and pet food, is active in around 185 countries and has around 277,000 employees (2024). The stock market value is more than 200 billion euros.