This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/jan/28/premier-foods-new-chief-executive

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Hovis owner Premier Foods to get new chief executive Chief executive of Hovis owner Premier Foods quits after 18 months
(about 7 hours later)
Premier Foods, the maker of Hovis bread and Mr Kipling cakes, is to get its second chief executive in 18 months after the sudden resignation of Michael Clarke. The boss of Premier Foods, the company behind Hovis bread, Mr Kipling cakes and Bisto gravy, has quit the company after less than 18 months in the job, during which he collected more than £2.7m.
Clarke is to be replaced by Gavin Darby, until recently the boss of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, from February. Michael Clarke stunned investors on Monday by announcing he was standing down from the board with "immediate effect". The news sent the company's shares tumbling 12%.
Darby promised to "invest a significant personal sum" in Premier's shares – which fell nearly 10% to 105p on Monday morning – with the company matching the size of his investment. Clarke, who joined the company in August 2011, said he was leaving because he is "looking to be CEO of a large corporation".
His new pay packet is yet to be disclosed. His predecessor, who was only appointed in August 2011, was on an annual salary of £750,000 plus bonuses, including a £1.5m cash bonus he was handed on joining and which he used to buy shares in the company. Clarke, who joined from Kraft, had also been promised two batches of a maximum of 5m shares in 2013 and 3.75m shares in 2014 because of share awards he had left at his previous employer. Since a share consolidation, he will now get 500,000 shares – currently worth around £500,000 in the first award – although he will also receive a cash payment on top of that, thought to be less than £500,000. He will not receive the second award of shares. "I've managed much bigger businesses in the past. I've got this business back on its feet – now it's the time to hand over," he said.
Since his arrival, Clarke had been focusing the group on eight "power brands" including Hovis, Oxo, Batchelors, Bisto, Ambrosia and Mr Kipling. Darby appeared to indicate that this would remain the case. Clarke said headhunters had approached him with a "number of other opportunities" but he felt it would be inappropriate to discuss other top jobs while he was leading Premier, which is struggling with debts of more than £1bn.
"Although markets remain difficult, I look forward to working with the team to develop and grow the company's power brands in the coming years. Premier Foods has great potential and I fully intend to invest a significant personal sum in the shares of the company after the full year results are published in February which the company will match," Darby said. "Now people are aware I'm open to a large opportunity," he said. "I believe I have the capacity for a large CEO role in the UK or USA."
In November Premier cut 900 jobs as it continued to pay down its debt after a decade-long period of acquisitions, notably the £1.2bn purchase of RHM, formerly Rank Hovis McDougall in 2007, left it saddled with debts. He said he had been offered top jobs in different industries and would not restrict himself to jobs in fast-moving consumer goods – having spent most of his career at Coca-Cola and Kraft.
That debt has now reached than £1bn after the sales of Branston Pickle to Japanese Mizkan Group and Hartley's jams and Sun-Pat peanut butter to US company Hain Celestial. Clarke said he would like a new job "focusing on growth" rather than implementing a turnaround with savage cost-cutting such as he has overseen at Premier. The company has cut more than 1,500 jobs over the past year, and sold many of its best-known brands, including Branston pickle and Sarson's vinegar.
David Beever, Premier Foods chairman said: "Michael Clarke and the team have done a first class job in stabilising the business, strengthening its balance sheet, divesting non-core businesses and generating momentum. This is a significant achievement in a challenging market and I would like to thank Mike on behalf of the Board for his contribution." He refused to comment on rumours that he wanted to leave Premier because he felt his £750,000 salary wasn't enough. Premier paid him £1.9m on joining the company. A further £1.49m of shares was dependent on him staying until at least 2013. He will still be able to collect about £525,000 worth.
Clarke has stepped down from the board with "immediate effect" but will "remain available" to the company until the middle of 2013. The company said the appointment of Darby after was made after Clarke's "indication to the board that, having delivered the initial turnaround of the company and set a course for future sustainable profitable growth, he was potentially considering moving on to pursue other business opportunities". Asked if he regretted joining Premier from Kraft, he said: "It's been an interesting challenge, and I've definitely learnt a lot in the past 18 months. I don't necessarily want to do a repeat of the last 18 months. Restructuring is not something I want to be a specialist in."
Darby left Cable & Wireless Worldwide after it was sold to Vodafone last year when he had been at the helm for less than 12 months. He had spent 15 year at Coca-Cola in a earlier point in his career and then went to Vodafone for seven years before joining Cable & Wireless Worldwide. Clarke said he would start speaking to headhunters about a new job after he returns from holidays snowboarding with his son next week and at a beach with his wife.
He will be replaced by Gavin Darby, until recently the boss of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, who starts in the job on Monday.
David Beever, Premier's chairman, who was forced to cancel a holiday to Jamaica after speculation over Clarke's departure leaked on Friday night, said Darby was the "standout candidate" to replace Clarke.
He later conceded Darby was the only person he interviewed for the job.
"I might have said 'hello' to someone else, but that was about it because we didn't get on," Beever said of the selection process.
Beever said it was "nonsense" to suggest that Clarke had left because of a dispute over pay. He said Clarke's pay was "perfectly normal for this kind of job, in this kind of environment" and said Darby would not be paid more than Clarke.
Darby promised to "invest a significant personal sum" in Premier's shares – which fell nearly 12% to 105p – with the company matching the size of his investment.
Darby, who said his favourite Premier brand was Sharwood's Indian and Chinese sauces, has been ousted from two previous jobs, both times by Vodafone.
He left the mobile phone giant in 2010 after a bust-up with chief executive Vittorio Colao. After he went on to become chief executive of Cable & Wireless Worldwide, he was then not kept on by Vodafone when it took over CWW last summer.
Martin Deboo, an analyst at Investec, said: "We see the surprise change of leadership as unhelpful to Premier's stability and organic growth prospects. With its financial restructuring complete, we think that consistency and longevity of leadership was going to be critical to its prosperity."