Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Cloetta Conference call. Today I'm pleased to present Jacob Broberg, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Investor Relations. For the first part of this call, all participants will be in listen-only mode, and afterwards there will be a question-and-answer session. Speaker, please begin.
Good morning, everyone. Jacob Broberg from Cloetta here with me. I have Caroline Sundewall, who's the Chairman of the Board of Cloetta. David Nuutinen, the incoming new CEO and President, and also Bengt Baron, current CEO and President. I will start with handing over the word to Caroline. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. As you all have seen, the board of directors of Cloetta has decided to appoint David Nuutinen, new President and CEO of Cloetta, starting in July. The reason for this appointment is that Bengt Baron, after six years as CEO of Leaf and Cloetta, has decided to leave. I will, in a minute, present David and why we think he's an excellent successor to Bengt and very well qualified. You've all followed Bengt, and he's been a key contributor in building Cloetta to becoming the leading confectionery company in the Nordic region. A solid foundation has been built under his leadership, and Cloetta therefore stands very strong for the future. Bengt will continue to lead Cloetta until the second quarter is released in July in order to facilitate a smooth transition to David.
Now over to the most important person, of course, of the day, who is David Nuutinen. When Bengt some time ago told me about his decision, we initiated a process to find a successor. I'm therefore very happy that we've been able to recruit an internal candidate from the current executive management. I think that this demonstrates continuity and stability. David has a solid background, an excellent understanding of Cloetta, and the confectionery industry. In 2005, he became president of Leaf Finland, and in 2007 became a member of the group management team. As the leader of our Finnish business, David has led it to continuous, excellent performances. By consistent and dedicated leadership that we have followed from the board, he has throughout the years improved the performance of his business area. Under his leadership, David has remained the strategy and the financial targets have remained intact.
Of course, as part of the group management team for many years, David has been involved in more or less every strategic decision that has been taken over the years, from merger to the factory closures and the three recent acquisitions. And this makes me and the board very secure in saying that David Nuutinen is the right person to lead Cloetta going forward. And with this, I would like to hand over then to today's person in charge, David Nuutinen. So please, David.
Thank you, Caroline, and good morning, everyone. I'll do a very short personal introduction first. I am a Canadian-born Finnish citizen, married with two children. I have been in the fast-moving consumer goods business for nearly 50 years, gone through various marketing, sales, and general management roles. I've been very, very happy and blessed that I've been involved with blue-chip companies, worked with great leading brands that consumers love and retailers want to carry in their assortment. In the 1980s and 1990s, I was in a Finnish company called Vaasan Mylly. I moved from there to McDonald's, and then I've left to PepsiCo. The great brands that I've been involved with have been Kellogg's in the ready-to-eat cereal area, Pepsi in beverages, McDonald's in the fast-food industry, and for the past 12 years with Cloetta, confectionery with great heritage brands.
I am very, very happy about the appointment to the new role as CEO. I've worked with the company, as Caroline said, 12 years, and in the current role for 10 years. I'm very, very happy to say that these past 10 years have been the best years in my career so far, and I'm looking forward to having fantastic years going forward. As Caroline said, I've been a member of the Cloetta Group Management Team already for many years. This makes me very comfortable in stating that the strategy and financial targets of Cloetta are intact. I feel really good that the company stands strong. My ambition is to keep up with our focus of brands, organic sales growth, and cost efficiencies. Naturally, we need to also keep our eyes open for potential acquisitions following our Munchy Moments strategy. I'm really looking forward to this new role.
I know it will be fun, of course challenging. I have the benefit of having a very experienced, dedicated, and performance-oriented team around me, and I'm very pleased that Bengt and I have agreed on a very smooth transition period. The next couple of months will allow us to spend time together and ensure and secure that this transition will be smooth going forward.
Thank you, David. With those introductions, we open up for some questions. Operations team, go ahead.
Okay, ladies and gentlemen. If you have a question for the speakers, please press 01 on your telephone keypad. So that's 01 to ask a question. Okay, we have the first question coming in from Mr. Fredrik Villard. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. I was wondering, the question to David and I one to Bengt. David, I mean, being the CEO of Finland and the things you've done there, what do you think you can bring into your new role as sort of head of the entire Cloetta company?
Well, I've been in the company for 12 years, and I think that I know the company very well. And I've been in Finland driving the corporate agenda, with dedicated focus on execution, taking the strategic initiatives, driving top-line growth , driving profitability. And that's exactly the same direction that I want to go forward.
All right, perfect. Thanks. Bengt, why are you leaving?
Well, I think it's a good time. I mean, it's been a very exciting and fun and challenging year. I mean, six years is a fairly long time. We've transformed the company from, I mean, Leaf where I started being private equity owned. Then we merged with Cloetta. We went through an intense restructuring period . We're through that now, and so I feel it's a good time right now after the six years. So new energy, new voice in the management team room, and a new exciting sort of building block for the future.
Okay, thanks.
Okay, and there is another question online coming from Mr. Stefan Cederberg from SEB. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thank you. I just wonder, is there a difference in priorities between what Bengt wants to do and the board wants to do?
Well, it's Caroline here. No, there is not. And I think that's a very smooth transition because we haven't had any discussions about our objectives or targets. Everything remains intact. And as David is extremely knowledgeable about where we're driving, so I think there haven't been any discussions regarding that. It's been more a matter of timing. And as we have just presented a very strong Q1 result, we think this timing would be a good one. So there are no changes in the targets and what David will strive for in his CEO role.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, there are no further questions at this time. Therefore, as a reminder, it is zero one to ask a question. There are no further questions at this time.
Okay, thank you very much from the Cloetta side for calling in, and speak to you later, hopefully at the Q2 presentation in July. Thank you, and have a good day. Good.