By Anthony Harrup


MEXICO CITY -- Mexican retail and beverages company Fomento Económico Mexicano is reorganizing its management after making rapid progress in implementing its strategic plan to focus on three core divisions.

The company, better known as Femsa, said Friday that chief financial officer Eugenio Garza y Garza will leave at the end of April and be replaced on an interim basis by Martin Arias Yaniz, who has worked with Femsa's finance and strategy team for the past 25 years, including as director of strategic planning and corporate development between 2014 and 2019.

Femsa said it will conduct "a thorough search process to appoint a permanent replacement in due course," and that the CFO will report to chief executive José Antonio Fernández Carbajal.

In a conference call with analysts, Fernández Carbajal said it could take a year or 18 months "at the most" to find a new CFO. Fernández Carbajal, who is interim CEO and also Femsa's chairman, plans to stay as CEO for several years.

"We have discussed this at length with the board, and we have agreed that on the CEO position I am willing and open and very happy to stay for at least 24 months, as CEO and chairman at the same time. I'm making this effort and enjoying it," he said.

Garza y Garza, who joined Femsa in 2018, played a key role in the company's recent strategic reorganization, dubbed "Femsa Forward," which involved the divestment of assets including its stake in Dutch brewer Heineken, the Jetro Restaurant Depot and Envoy, in order to focus on its core retail, soft-drinks and digital operations.

Garza y Garza will continue to work with Femsa in an advisory role, the company said.

Chief corporate officer Francisco Camacho Beltrán has also decided to leave the company at the end of April. After joining Femsa in 2020, Camacho Beltrán "leaves the company with a clear roadmap for sustained growth," Femsa said.


Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-23-24 1427ET