Yowie backs US executive to deliver sweeter results
Newly appointed Yowie Group chief executive and managing director Mark Schuessler is the right person to put the company back on track in the wake of a major sales downgrade, according to chairman Louis Carroll.
The endorsement comes despite less than flattering sales figures from North America where Mr Schuessler has headed up the business since last August.
The market update revealed net sales in North America in the six months to December 31 fell 11.7 per cent to $US8.2 million ($10.5 million).
Yowie also revealed the launch of its lower-price brand, called Discovery World, had failed to live up to expectations.
Mr Carroll, who joined the company as chairman last September, said the December sales figures for North America were unflattering to Mr Schuessler, but not a full measure of his performance.
"Mark has in fact, since he took responsibility only a short while ago, achieved a lot of new account wins and we will be detailing more of that," he said.
"The problem is they don't all come on until Q3 and Q4. We see Mark as the architect of the 20 per cent-plus growth that we expect in the second half." Walmart relationship
The Perth-headquartered company has contracts in the pipeline that will see its core product – chocolate capsules with enclosed toys – stocked in an additional 15,000 retail outlets in North America over the second half of 2017-18.
While Yowie is disappointed with the performance of Discovery World, its major customer Walmart is not and has re-stocked the product until at least the end of October.
The relationship with Walmart gives Yowie products exposure in more than 4300 stores.
Mr Schuessler, previously president and chief operating officer of US marshmallows manufacturer Doumak, replaced Bert Alfonso as CEO.
His appointment as managing director on Friday came amid a major board shake-up that saw the departure of Trevor Allen and Patricia Fields.
Glen Watts, a senior executive with Kimberly-Clark, was added to the board and Mr Carroll said he expected at least one other appointment as part of a renewal process.
Mr Alfonso, Mr Allen and Ms Fields were all targeted by dissent investors, led by company founder and former managing director Phil Hudson, who last month requisitioned an extraordinary meeting of shareholders to spill the board.
It is unclear if the meeting, scheduled for some time next month, will go ahead with the dissenting investors understood to have acknowledged the significant board and management changes.
YOW Price at posting:
16.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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