The co-chairman of Unilever, Mr Niall FitzGerald, is to retire from the consumer products group at the end of September.
The company confirmed today that he will be succeeded by Mr Patrick Cescau, currently head of Unilever's food business.
Mr FitzGerald(58) will formally step down on September 30th after nearly 40 years with the company 8 years of which were in the co-chairman's seat.
There is speculation that Mr FitzGerald may become the next Reuters chairman.
Unilever announced Mr FitzGerald's departure this morning along with results for 2003, described as a "difficult year".
Unilever had been targeting 5-6 per cent sales growth by the end of 2004 for its leading brands under a restructuring plan.
Today it admitted annual sales growth for leading brands was 2.5 per cent.