The Australian wine group, Southcorp, has appointed John Ballard, an executive from the snack food industry, as its new chief executive. Ballard, 56, succeeds Keith Lambert, who was ousted last month, and will be charged with putting Southcorp back on track after its well publicised troubles in recent months.
Last month, the company announced dramatically reduced first-half profits prompting its share price to plummet to a seven-year low. In January, Southcorp had reduced earnings guidance for 2003 and in early-February that sacked Lambert.
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Attention has already been drawn to the fact that Ballard has no experience of the wine market but Southcorp stressed his track record in building and managing relationships with retailers. “John’s knowledge of retail strategy and his relationships with the retail sector will be important attributes in strengthening Southcorp’s relationships with our customers and building the strength of our global brands,” said Southcorp chairman, Brian Finn.
Ballard was managing director of APD/Smith’s Snackfoods, which became United Biscuits Asia/Pacific, between 1986 to 1997. Since 1997, he has held, among others, a directorship at Australia’s largest retailer, Woolworths. He will now give up his other directorships.
Some analysts suggested Ballard’s experience in fast-moving consumer goods would be valuable and it was generally thought that, while Southcorp would have put experience in the wine market as a key criterion in its search, candidates with the necessary experience and seniority are not that numerous in such a specialised industry.
The appointment has surprised some pundits following the strong suggestion that Southcorp was poised to name Tom Burnet, who joined the company seven months ago as chief of the company’s US operations, as CEO. He has just been promoted to the group’s board as executive director. Burnet was thought to be a strong candidate for the top job and, given his wealth of wine experience, is likely to be a key member of the board when Ballard takes up his appointment from the end of April.
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