Hershey CEO to step down

Source: Food and Drink Digital

Date :10/2/2007 7:34:27 AM

The Chief Executive of US confectionery giant Hershey is to leave the company.

Rick Lenny, chairman, president and CEO of Hershey since 2001 will step down at the end of the year.

The news comes as the chocolate maker struggles with rising dairy costs.

Hershey Co. has also struggled to preserve its prominence as the nation's largest candy maker with growing competition from MasterFoods USA, a unit of privately held Mars Inc. which has hampered results at Hershey.

It has also been affected by the higher dairy cost.

Plans

Earlier this year, Pennsylvania-based chocolate maker announced plans to close six U.S. and Canadian plants with the loss of 3,000 jobs, including 900 at its hometown plants.

The company also said it would shift more of its production to contractors and a new plant it is building in Mexico.

In April, the company was linked with a possible merger with Cadbury after Cadbury announced its intention to de-merge its sweets and soft drinks operations.

The company has said it has already begun a search for a successor, adding that it expected to make an announcement "in the near future."

October 2 2007

Related Links

Hershey