Danone Appoints Antoine De Saint-Affrique as Chief Executive Officer, Effective September 15, 2021
May 17, 2021 at 01:11 pm EDT
Share
Danone announced the appointment of Antoine de Saint-Affrique as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 15, 2021. The decision of tonight’s Board followed a rigorous selection process led by the Governance Committee. Antoine de Saint-Affrique will succeed the joint interim leadership of Véronique Penchienati-Bosetta and Shane Grant. The Board of Directors also decided to propose Antoine de Saint-Affrique as a new member to the Board of Danone for appointment at the next annual shareholders’ meeting in April 2022. Antoine de Saint-Affrique joins Danone from global chocolate maker and cocoa processor, Barry Callebaut, where he was appointed Chief Executive Officer in October 2015. Prior to Barry Callebaut, Antoine de Saint-Affrique held a series of senior executive positions at global consumer goods company Unilever, where he notably led the Foods division.
Danone is one the world leading food-processing groups. Net sales break down by family of products as follows:
- dairy products and plant products (51.9%; No. 1 worldwide): fresh fermented milk products, creams, products and drinks of plant origin (based in particular on soya, almond, hazelnut, rice, oats and coconut);
- specialized nutrition products (30.8%): baby foods (No. 1 worldwide; foods for infants and young children in addition to breastfeeding) and medical nutrition products (No. 2 in Europe; foods for people suffering from certain pathologies or people weakened by age);
- bottled water (17.3%; No. 2 worldwide): natural water, aromatized water or enriched in vitamins (brands Evian, Volvic, Badoit, Aqua, etc.).
At the end of 2023, the group had more than 174 production sites throughout the world.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (8.4%), Europe (25.5%), North America (25%), China/Japan/Australia/New Zealand (12.7%), Latin America (10.1%) and other (18.3%).