Nordic wine and spirits company Anora Group has appointed Jacek Pastuszka as CEO, replacing nine-year incumbent Pekka Tennilä.
Pastuszka most recently served as Carlsberg’s vice president of Western Europe and was on the group’s executive committee.
Anora said his past experience with Carlsberg involved “strategic turn-around initiatives” including restructuring the beer giant's business in Norway. He has also worked for Danone in Poland and Procter & Gamble as commercial VP and sales director respectively.
“His experience from the northern and western European markets is an ideal match for us. He has a strong track record in business transformations, such as restructuring the Carlsberg business in Norway,” chairperson of Anora’s board of directors, Michael Holm Johansen, said.
“The board is convinced that Jacek Pastuszka is the right person to lead Anora towards reaching its 2030 strategic goals and that he optimally complements the broad skill set of our management team.”
In August, the Finland-headquartered business issued a profit warning, citing the impact of exchange rates and lower expected earnings from Denmark business Globus Wine.
Speaking to analysts the following week after it published its first-half results, the company’s management said it had started a cost-saving programme and was looking to save €6m ($6.5m) annually. It said it would also undertake efforts to up prices in September and October.
Anora reported a half-year comparable EBITDA of €20.9m, versus €31.9m a year earlier. The company is forecasting its comparable EBITDA for 2023 will be €70-78m ($76.5-85.3m), down from its earlier forecast of €80-90m. In 2022, Anora’s comparable EBITDA was €76.1m. It generated net sales of €703m.
The group cited two main issues for the revised forecast: the impact of exchange rates and lower expected earnings of bulk importer Globus Wine. It claims its plant in Køge, south of Copenhagen, is the largest bag-in-box packaging site in northern Europe.
Anora, which owns wine brands including Chill Out and Falling Feather, bought Globus Wine last year.
“The gross margins on Globus Wine are lower than what we expected because the financials on which the acquisition was made contained, as far as we can tell, significant accounting errors. That meant that the inventory value was overstated, and the gross margin was overstated as well,” Anora said at the time.
