Four executives to leave Reckitt Benckiser amid company struggles

LONDON: Four senior executives are leaving Reckitt Benckiser Group as the British consumer goods company fights to recover from the weakest performance in its history.

The maker of Durex condoms and Lysol cleaners on Monday confirmed the upcoming departures of the heads of human resources, information technology, developing markets and category development.

The voluntary departures also come as Reckitt integrates Mead Johnson, its biggest takeover ever.

The company has also been grappling for months with the fallout from a failed product launch and a safety scandal in South Korea that wiped out its business there.

Darrell Stein, senior vice president of information services, will leave on October 1, to be immediately replaced by Seth Cohen, who will join the company from PepsiCo.

Stein’s departure comes months after Reckitt was hit by a cyber attack that hobbled its global operations and cost it about 100 million pounds of sales this year.

Deborah Yates, senior vice president of human resources, and Roberto Funari, executive vice president of category development, will leave at the end of the year to pursue other opportunities, Reckitt said.

Frederic Larmuseau, head of developing markets, will also leave at the end of the year, Reckitt said, to take the helm of Jacobs Douwe Egberts, a coffee business owned by JAB Holdings. His departure was announced six weeks ago.

“RB is transforming itself to become the undisputed leader in global consumer health and hygiene and has taken a number of important steps on this strategic journey over the last six months. This journey is driving a change in our portfolio priorities and, over time, how we operate,” the company said in a statement.

“We remain confident that we have the right strategy and the considerable bench strength of talent to deliver significant and sustainable value creation for all of our stakeholders.”

Reckitt's shares were down 1.1 percent at 0815 GMT, underperforming a FTSE 100. FTSE that was down 0.2 percent.

The departures were first reported by the Financial Times.