It’s not often a food major’s CEO steps down for a new job in sport but that was the news out of The Campbell’s Company this week.
NFL-bound Mark Clouse is deemed to have left the soup and snacks maker in better shape than he found it but there are concerns about the broader macro environment for his successor.
Clouse, who is departing for a role as president at NFL side Washington Commanders, is passing on the reins to company executive Mick Beekhuizen.
In what will be six years in charge as CEO (the handover takes effect in February), Clouse has significantly reshaped Campbell’s, selling off a raft of assets and, on the other side of the ledger, notably snapping up Rao’s sauces owner Sovos Brands for $2.7bn last year.
The changes at Campbell’s continued into 2024 – and not just to the company’s name. This year, factories have been closed and more assets sold as Clouse sought to boost efficiency, improve returns and drive growth.
And, in September, Clouse laid down new sales and earnings targets for Campbell’s. “For the last five years, we have been on a transformative journey to redefine our company,” he told investors at the time. “We are ready to turn the page and enter a new chapter.”
The next stage of the Campbell’s story will be led by former CFO Beekhuizen, who, for the last two years, has headed the company’s meals and drinks business.
The news was announced alongside Campbell’s fiscal first-quarter numbers, which missed Wall Street estimates on organic growth and gross margin.
There was a warm send-off for Clouse among analysts and some positive words for the new man at the helm. “Clouse’s charismatic leadership style was exactly what the organisation needed to rebuild confidence. We think the company, and the Street, will miss him,” TD Cowen analyst Robert Moskow said. “Mick Beekhuizen shares Clouse’s passion for the company and he is well qualified to take the helm.”
Nevertheless, the Q1 numbers hint at the challenges facing the new Campbell’s boss and the company, as with all packaged-food manufacturers operating in the US, will be watching the new Trump administration and a particular key appointment closely.
"Investors and industry participants alike are scrambling to make sense of President Trump's Make America Healthy Again initiative," Moskow said.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s appointee as US health secretary, had parts of the country’s food industry in his crosshairs during the campaign.
In August, Kennedy, a former Democrat, ended his own presidential campaign and endorsed Trump’s push for the White House. He has launched Make America Healthy Again, a campaign that “prioritises regenerative agriculture, protects natural resources and removes harmful toxins from our food, water and air”.
And the likes of Campbell's will have taken notice of some Kennedy's other comments, too. He has pinned the “obesity epidemic” in the US on “ultra-processed food”, claiming the country has a “broken food system”.
And other clouds are on the horizon, too, industry watchers suggest. “Consumer sensitivity to inflation remains high. The salty snacks category, which used to be the paragon of predictable growth, has stopped growing,” Moskow reflected. “It feels like the risk of a broader reset for Campbell’s and perhaps the industry in general is ticking higher, especially with a new CEO taking the helm.”
