Barry Callebaut's returns under Feld among the worst of departing consumer CEOs

By Paolo Laudani

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Barry Callebaut BARN.S said on Wednesday it would appoint former Unilever ULVR.L boss Hein Schumacher as its CEO, replacing Peter Feld, the latest of several changes at the top of leading consumer companies over the last 18 months.

A Reuters analysis of companies that have changed their leadership during that period, including Nestle NESN.S and Starbucks SBUX.O, show which ones have performed best under their CEOs' tenures.

In annualized total terms, the Swiss chocolate maker ranks amongst the worst performers, having delivered negative returns of 11% under Feld since April 2023.

Unilever delivered returns of 8.95% under Schumacher, before ousting him in February 2025.

The company that delivered the best returns to its shareholders is Walmart WMT.O. Under the leadership of Doug McMillon, at the helm since February 2014, the retailer posted annualized total returns of 16%, calculated from the day before the CEO took up office to January 21, 2025.

Hershey is second on the list. Its annualized total return came to 9.7% since March 2017 under the leadership of Michele Buck.

A laggard in this CEO scorecard is German sportswear brand Puma PUMG.DE, which under Arne Freundt saw a negative annualized return of 36.6%. He was replaced in April by former Adidas ADSGn.DE sales chief Arthur Hoeld.

Looking at total return, luxury group Kering PRTP.PA takes the crown as it delivered a whopping 520% return to its shareholders in the past 20 years, with Francois-Henri Pinault holding the top position between March 2005 and September of last year.

Walmart comes second in this metric with 501.4% return, while drinks group Diageo DGE.L, Nike NKE.N and KitKat maker Nestle NESN.S were among the worst performers.