French dairy giant Danone shareholder Bluebell Capital Partners criticised the company’s “disappointing” stock price and called for the board to start searching for a new CEO to replace its current chairman and chief executive, Emmanuel Faber.
It claims since Faber took over in 2014, Danone has delivered total shareholder returns of 21% compared with 56% for the Stoxx Europe 600 Food & Beverage, 97% for Nestlé and 101% for Unilever.
Sounds familiar? Fonterra was in a similar position three years ago, with depressed unit prices and poor returns from investments.
It took a change in Fonterra’s leadership to steady the ship. Could Danone be heading the same way?
