Nestle chooses from the inside to replace the CEO who made the case

Philip Navartel is the CEO of the Swiss company, after Mark Schneider’s exit for the weak performance last year and Laurent Frexol on Monday for his failure to reveal a relationship with direct subordinate.

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It is unprecedented disorders of a company famous for the internal caliphate planning and corporate culture.

RBC analysts, including James Edwards Jones, said in a note that Freixe “left us shocked.” “We thought about it as Nestle Lever, who would reputrate the company about the possibility of boring a little boring. How wrong we were.”

“Instead of spending time to make a full evaluation of internal and external candidates,” said Jeffrez analysts.

Nestle shares decreased by 3.6 % early on Tuesday before some decline was shortened.

The eyes of investors are now on Navratil, an old warrior in the company for more than 20 years who at the age of 49 can manage the Kitkat Chocolate bars maker for a decade or more. He joined Nestle in 2001 and spent most of his career in Central America, including Mexico, focusing on coffee.

He later operated the group’s global coffee unit, supervised the Nescafé brand and the licensing agreement with it Starbucks Corp. , Which analysts see it is one of the most promising companies in Nestle. Nespresso CEO, a single -use coffee and capsules maker, became in July 2024.

The date of Navratil, along with Nestle Change the president Andreas von Arx said in a note: “The real generations’ step that should have occurred 12 months ago,” Andreas von Arx said in a note.

However, the Swiss citizen and Austrian It faces doubts about whether it could restart a company whose shares have fell more than 40 % since early 2022. The chip, which began during the Shinider era, was the Freixe mission of the opposite.

But CEO’s previous efforts reached a sudden end after the investigation found that Freixe violated the rules of Nestlé, according to a statement issued late on Monday. A spokesman said he will not receive an exit package.

The matter was first revived to the attention of the company’s officials through an internal system called “Speak Up”, according to a person familiar with the situation that requested not to name. After allegations cannot be proven through the initial investigation, more concerns were raised through the internal system and an external lawyer was investigated, as the person said.

Commenting on his new role, Navratil said it “will completely embrace the company’s strategic direction” – a clear indication that it will continue the Freixe strategy of promoting advertising spending, betting on lower but larger product initiatives and getting rid of weak performance units.

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It inherits the ongoing restructuring, including the potential sale of non -vitamin brands, and finding a possible partner for bottled water in Nestle, which was separated into an independent unit.

“We are disappointed that the CEO is currently besieged to follow his predecessor’s strategy at a time when the market doubts the result,” said Celine Panotti, an analyst at JPMorgan, in a note.

Some challenges Nestle go beyond its direct control. While Freixe has often noticed about 90 % of its products sold in the United States locally, and therefore it is outside the scope of President Donald Trump’s tariff, a major exception is Swissio’s coffee capsules. They are now facing a 39 % tax.

It is the work of Navratil known at least well.

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