Irish director at Aryzta quits amid tensions over dual chairman-CEO role

Swiss-Irish baking group Aryzta’s only Irish director, Gordon Hardie, has quit the board along with another non-executive amid tension over how long the company’s head should continue in his dual roles of chairman and interim chief executive.

Aryzta, owner of the Cuisine de France brand in Ireland, said on Wednesday that Mr Hardie, a native of Cork and former head of US agribusiness group Bunge’s food and ingredients unit and Joerg Riboni had resigned “within immediate effect”.

While the statement did not give a reason for the sudden departures, sources said that the two had been pressing for the company to bring forward the timeline for chairman and interim CEO Urs Jordi to step down as CEO.

However, both were part of a unanimous board view pitched late last year to proxy advisory companies to major investors that shareholders were “best served” by the dual mandate being extended until 31 December 2024″, according to documents posted on Aryzta’s website ahead of its annual general meeting (agm) last November.

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The board said at the time that Mr Jordi, who was appointed chairman in September 2020 and interim CEO two months later, holding both roles until the end of next year would provide stability, help deliver a key turnaround plan and navigate “the extraordinary challenges” of inflation.

Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), a major proxy advisory firm, said that the firm offered a “compelling rationale” for Mr Jordi continuing in both roles for a period. The rest of the board is said to still strongly support the dual roles remaining in place until the end of next year.

Mr Riboni’s sudden resignation came five days after Aryzta said that he had asked to be relieved of his duties as lead independent director and would not be standing for re-election at the company’s next agm in the spring.

Mr Jordi, a baker by training and who was appointed chairman over three years ago as part of a boardroom coup, has focused ever since on selling non-core assets following a period debt-fuelled acquisitions, cutting unsustainably high borrowings and repositioning its baked goods to cater for evolving tastes.

The company has lowered its focus on commodities breads and moved more towards speciality offerings, such as sourdough, high protein and clean-label products.

Mr Hardi, who holds both Irish and Australian citizenship and Mr Riboni, a Swiss national, joined as non-executives in December 2020 to complete a boardroom overhaul.

Aryzta said early last month that its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) soared 58 per cent in the year to the end of July to top market expectations as it accelerated its turnaround following a tumultuous period. Organic sales growth amounted to 21.6 per cent.

Mr Jordi said on Wednesday that the group’s performance for the three months to the end of October will be published on November 27th.

“Organic revenue growth will be supported by positive volume and price. In addition, we expect further sequential margin expansion for the remainder of 2023 supported by efficiencies and cost discipline,” he said. “Our strategy remains on track to deliver our midterm targets by focusing on organic growth, business optimisation, free cash generation and total net debt reduction.”