Food chief axed in GrandMet restructure

Grand Metropolitan has scrapped its food sector structure and made the food group’s chairman and chief executive David Nash redundant. He will receive more than 900,000 in compensation.

The move is part of a wider restructure within Grand Metropolitan which is facing the retirement of group chairman Lord Sheppard next March. George Bull, currently group chief executive, will replace Sheppard. Nash will leave the company on January 31 having lost the battle for the group chief executive post to John McGrath.

The food sector, which includes Burger King, Pillsbury Green Giant, Häagen-Dazs and all European food operations, accounts for 60 per cent of group sales and 55 per cent of all operating profit.

Pillsbury chief executive officer Paul Walsh has been promoted to become a GrandMet director and will take responsibility for its European food operations. Individual chief executives in the various subsidiaries will now report directly to McGrath.

“The group is changing and evolving,” says a GrandMet spokesman. “At the time it was created, the food sector gave a cohesiveness to a scrappy range of businesses. But the simplification of the structure gives the business managers more authority.”

In the six months to March 31, GrandMet spent a record 535m on marketing.