Getting rid of Hein Schumacher may not follow the usual FTSE 100 script, but boards should be free to make clinical judgments if there’s a better option
Most removals of chief executives from FTSE 100 companies follow the same script. Financial results disappoint; the share price falls; improvement is promised but doesn’t materialise; the shares fall further; a beleaguered board, harassed by the shareholders, finally pulls the plug. The process tends to take ages. The exit of Hein Schumacher from Unilever is nothing like that.
First, he’s been in the job for little more than 18 months. Second, the numbers for 2024 were OK, even if the revenue line for the fourth quarter was weak-ish. Third, the share price hasn’t been crashing – it’s up 10% since Schumacher’s appointment. Nor does there appear to have been a quarrel over strategy, even if the choice of Amsterdam for the primary listing of the soon-to-be-demerged Magnum and Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream division will not have been universally popular.
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