D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753 announces that Michiel Herkemij, CEO of D.E MASTER BLENDERS 1753, left the company by mutual consent at the end of 2012. Jan Bennink, non-executive chairman of the board, will assume the CEO’s responsibilities until a new CEO has been appointed.
“The board and I wish to extend our appreciation to Michiel for his work during the last twelve months and his contributions to the completion of our spin-off from the Sara Lee Co., the listing of DEMB 1753 as an independent pure-play coffee and tea company on the Amsterdam stock exchange and the start of the roll-out of our strategy” said Bennink, in a prepared statement. “2012 was a transitional year for DEMB, as we began to implement our strategy of innovation and premiumization. The fundamentals we have in place today remain solid and we continue on track to deliver our objectives; to grow our total segment sales by 3 to 5 percent while improving our underlying EBIT margin by 150 to 200 bps in the first 12 months of fiscal 2013.”
The board of directors has agreed that Bennink will assume the responsibilities of the executive director to ensure continuity and stability. This allocation of responsibilities will continue until a new CEO and executive director has been appointed by shareholders.
