McCormick & Co., Inc MKC recently announced that it has promoted Lawrence Kurzius to the position of chief executive officer (‘CEO’), effective from Feb 1, 2016. Kurzius will replace Alan D. Wilson, who served as chairman, president and CEO for more than eight years and was responsible for McCormick's worldwide business.
However, in Jan 2015, Wilson offloaded his responsibilities for the company's global operations to Kurzius, who was then serving as President and chief operating officer (‘COO’). Wilson will continue to remain McCormick’s chairman.
Kurzius has played a pivotal role in McCormick for the past 12 years and has held various leadership positions in the company. Kurzius was elected to the company's board on Nov 24, 2015 and has served as a member of the management committee since 2007. He is a BA in Economics from Princeton University.
Before joining McCormick, Kurzius was the CEO of Zatarain's, a food and spice company in New Orleans, which was acquired by McCormick in 2003. Kurzius also held marketing positions with Uncle Ben's, a division of U.S.-based food processing company Mars Inc. and the Quaker Oats Company, an American food conglomerate, owned by PepsiCo Inc PEP since 2001.
We note that McCormick has witnessed a 20% rise in spice, herb and seasoning purchases in the last five years, owing to the rising demand for flavors. Therefore, the company regularly enhances its products through innovation in order to remain competitive and tap the rising demand for new flavors, spices and herbs, which are fast replacing demand for sugar, salt and fat.
McCormick’s increasing focus on saving costs and enhancing productivity through its ongoing initiative, the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement (‘CCI’) program, which started in 2009, is also encouraging.
However, weak demand from quick service restaurants, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, remains a concern over the near term.
We expect the new CEO of McCormick to better understand the overall strengths and weaknesses of the business as he has in-depth knowledge of the company’s operations. His experience is expected to benefit the company and is expected to take the business to the next level.
The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the food industry include B&G Foods, Inc. BGS and Omega Protein Corp. OME. Both of them sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
Be the first to comment