Moss-Solomon, Burton and Mahfood GRACE, KENNEDY & CO. yesterday made the first in a series of senior management changes, which are likely to see a raft of new executives ushered in to run operations after the news that Unilever will soon end its current 22-year deal with the company.
In an internal memo obtained by Wednesday Business, Grace chairman and chief executive Douglas Orane told staff that effective August 1, food trading divisional director Gregory Moss-Solomon was being moved to head international business within the division. Erwin Burton, the company's industrial, retail and trading division boss, has been ushered in to take control of the food trading arm as its divisional head.
John Mahfood, former head of international business has taken over Mr. Burton's old role as head of the industrial division.
Senator Orane yesterday confirmed the news. He said it was the first in a series of steps designed to prepare the business for the challenges ahead but he was not yet in a position to detail fully future changes.
Mr. Orane said the rationale for the changes was clear. "We need to do certain things differently....We agreed certain targets with the food trading division management and they have not been met."
He added that the decision by consumer products giant Unilever to consider alternatives, added to the company's belief that the timing was "right to make the changes now."
Grace divisions are run as virtually autonomous units, with strict targets agreed. Managers get a wide scope to decide on how they implement the targets and which colleagues they choose to help achieve objectives. The latest sweeping changes point to restructuring from the top down, which is not likely to go unnoticed in business circles more used to seeing the rank and file displaced.
It is understood that Unilever is looking at a number of options, including getting another company to distribute its products.
The food trading division has already gone through massive changes in recent times as part of a wide ranging restructuring at the Group.
Gregory Moss-Solomon became boss after a stint overseeing the US$3 million re-launch of the Grace brand at the merchandise business. But the division also includes such companies as cheese maker Dairy Industries, Food Processors, the former Grace Canning business and National Pro-cessors.
In the 1999 annual report Mr. Solomon said the food trading division had another difficult year, which was "significantly" impacted by the performance of the merchandise division. He said the restructuring that began in late 1998 continued "during the year with greater focus on marketing and working capital management".
He now moves to head the international business, which has seen sales of the Grace brand jump in two years from US$8.6 million to US$16.5 million by the end of 1999.
Grace's revenues of $3.59 billion for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000 fell slightly when compared with the $3.60 billion recorded in the corresponding period in 1999. Net profit rose from $134 million to $161.3 million.
