New Covent Garden Soup owner Hain Daniels has announced current CFO Jeremy Hudson is to become chief executive.
In June he will replace Rob Burnett, who is leaving the business to become CEO at turkey giant Bernard Matthews.
Hain Daniels said Hudson, who joined the business – then the Daniels Group – in 2000 as financial controller, had played a “vital role in its strategic growth and success”. Hudson will report directly to Irwin Simon, founder, president and CEO of Hain Daniels owner Hain Celestial.
In February, Hain Celestial reported its group sales had risen 18% to $535m (£328m) in the three months to 31 December, with UK sales up 22% to $146m.
Hain has grown its UK business through a string of acquisitions, most recently its purchase of rice business Tilda in January this year. This followed the acquisition of Premier Foods’ jams, jellies and spreads business – including Hartley’s, Sun-Pat peanut butter and Robertson’s marmalade – in 2012, and organic babyfood brand Ella’s Kitchen in 2013.
Simon has said he plans to grow the Tilda brand further using its existing distribution platform in the US, Canada and Europe.
Updated at 15:25 on 26 April 14 to remove Ella’s Kitchen from the first sentence; the brand is owned by Hain Celestial, not Hain Daniels.
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