Quorn CEO steps down amid modest Monde results

The CEO of Monde Nissin Corp.’s alternative meat business has stepped down as the unit continued to struggle in the first nine months of the year, resulting in an overall modest growth for the maker of Lucky Me! instant noodles.

In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, Monde CEO Henry Soesanto said Quorn Foods CEO Marco Bertacca had decided to relinquish his post to allow the business to “benefit from new ideas and renewed energy.”

“I thank him for his hard work during a very difficult time during the COVID pandemic,” Soesanto said.

READ: Monde nets P5.1B in first half of 2024

Bertacca will be replaced by David Flochel, a former executive of brewing company Heineken, in January 2025.

This came as the net income of Monde, which is also behind SkyFlakes crackers, rose by 5 percent to P6.1 billion in the January to September period.

Revenues also saw a modest 3.2-percent increase to P61.1 billion, driven by the Asia-Pacific branded food and beverage unit (Apac BFB).

In the third quarter alone, Monde said the group’s net profit declined by 13.8 percent to P2 billion because of an impairment loss and restructuring costs at Quorn.

Quorn narrowed its net loss by 13.7 percent to P655 million, while net sales declined by 2.1 percent to P10.1 billion.

“Given the continued challenges in the meat alternative business, we plan to streamline costs and simplify operations through a restructuring and business transformation that will affect all parts of the organization,” Soesanto said, adding that they expected a better performance from Quorn next year.

Quorn previously said pricing was a particular barrier to attracting more “flexitarian” customers, or those with a semi-vegetarian diet, as they moved to less expensive choices.