Quorn Foods appoints David Flochel as new CEO 

UK – Quorn Foods, a UK-based producer of meat substitutes, has named David Flochel, a former executive at Heineken, as its new CEO. 

Flochel, who has also held roles at Mars and Unilever, is set to take charge of the Monde Nissin-owned company next month.

He will replace Marco Bertacca, who has led the business for the past five years. 

During Marco’stenure, Quorn faced declining sales, particularly in the UK retail sector, due to reduced demand for plant-based products.

Monde Nissin, which owns Quorn Foods, reported financial setbacks in its meat-alternative operations, recording impairments in 2022 and 2023. 

The challenges have primarily been linked to the slowdown in the meat-free market.

In August, Monde Nissin disclosed a decline in revenues from its Meat Alternative division, which includes Quorn Foods. 

For the first half of the financial year, net sales from the division fell by 4.2%, reaching 6.8 billion Philippine pesos (US$117.7 million). 

Adjusted figures, following an IFRS adjustment, showed a 0.6% drop in sales.

While the group’s overall net sales increased by 2.4%, the performance of the Meat Alternative division weighed heavily on results. 

The core gross profit from this unit dropped by 19.1% on a reported basis and 5.6% on a comparable basis for the first half of the year. 

However, there was a slight recovery in the second quarter, with a 3.9% rise in comparable gross profit, partly due to reduced input costs.

Despite this, the division’s net sales continued to fall, with a 2.7% drop in the second quarter, following a 4% decline in the first three months of the year. 

Nick Cooper, CFO of Quorn’s business unit, told analysts that underlying sales, once adjusted for customer de-stocking, showed a 9% decline, mirroring the drop seen in the first quarter.

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