Fabien Simon, the chief executive of coffee major JDE Peet’s, is to leave the business next month.
The Jacobs coffee maker said Simon, who became CEO in 2020, is to depart on 1 April.
No reasons were given for the change at the top of the business. Simon joined the then Jacobs Douwe Egberts as CFO in 2014 and was appointed chief executive six years later.
“On behalf of the board, I want to thank Fabien for leading JDE Peet’s, particularly through a period of macro disruption,” said JDE Peet’s chairman Olivier Goudet said.
“While navigating Covid and high inflation in a more complicated world, Fabien transformed the company into a global coffee and tea powerhouse with brands, talent and sustainability at its core.
Luc Vandevelde, the former Marks and Spencer chairman and CEO, is lead independent director at JDE Peet’s and will take the reins on an interim basis while the company looks for a permanent replacement for Simon.
Vandevelde is an ex-Jacobs coffee executive from the 1990s. After the then Kraft Foods acquired the coffee and chocolate group Jacobs Suchard in 1990, he became chief executive of what was Kraft Jacobs Suchard’s French and Italian operations.
“Luc is a seasoned executive who knows JDE Peet’s and the coffee category intimately, and we are confident in his ability to unlock shareholder value while leading the search for a permanent CEO,” Joachim Creus, the CEO of JAB, the indirect majority shareholder of the company, said.
“JAB has strong conviction in the long-term growth prospects of JDE Peet’s and the resilience of the sector and we are fully committed to our investment in the world’s leading pure-play coffee and tea company.”
Vandevelde will also become the chairman of JDE Peet’s after its AGM in May.
In 2023, the Tassimo brand owner’s sales reached €8.19bn ($8.96bn), up on a reported basis 0.5% and 3.9% organically.
JDE Peet’s posted adjusted EBIT of €1.13bn for 2023, down 8.1% on a reported basis but up 1.1% organically.
The company’s “underlying profit” dropped 21.6% to €734m.
When discussing the group’s overall outlook for 2024 with analysts last month, Simon said: “We expect our organic sales growth to come in at the lower end of our medium-term target of 3% to 5%, with a mid-single-digit organic growth in adjusted EBIT, when excluding Russia’s performance.
