Carlsberg CEO Hart’s retirement plan triggers share fall

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Carlsberg shares slipped on Tuesday after the Danish brewer said its CEO Cees ‘t Hart had decided to retire after eight years and a search for his successor was underway.

Hired in 2015, partly to help restore sluggish sales in its Eastern Europe division, including Russia, Hart has overseen Carlsberg’s SAIL’22 strategy, which focused on cutting costs and improve sales of more premium beer brands.

Carlsberg said in a statement that Hart planned to leave by the end of the third quarter. Shares in the brewer were down 2.5% at 0825 GMT.

“Cees ‘t Hart has delivered remarkable results during his time at Carlsberg,” Supervisory Board Chair Henrik Poulsen said.

Carlsberg, the Western brewer most exposed to Russia, said last year it expected a writedown of about 9.9 billion Danish crowns ($1.43 billion) after announcing a sale of its business in the country as a result of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Staying on board for another half a year will allow me and the team to continue delivering on our challenging plans for 2023 and accomplishing the sale of the Russian business before the summer,” Hart said.

Carlsberg said it expects to have found a buyer and signed an agreement by June. It is seeking an option with the buyer to buy back the Russian business in future.

(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom and Nikolaj Skydsgaard; Editing by Terje Solsvik and Alexander Smith)