New CEO to take over at health and hygiene giant

Hull-headquartered health, hygiene and home produce company, Reckitt Benckiser Group (Reckitt), has appointed Kris Licht as chief executive officer to succeed Nicandro Durante.

Licht will become CEO designate as of 1 May and will immediately begin the transition to the CEO role, working alongside Durante. Licht will be appointed to the Board as an executive director effective 1 June 2023 and will take over as CEO by the end of 2023.

Durante will stay with Reckitt up to December 2023 to ensure a smooth transition, at which time he will step down from the Board.

Licht has served as president of Reckitt’s Health business and as chief customer officer since July 2020. Prior to this, he was Reckitt’s chief transformation officer from November 2019 to July 2020.

He joined Reckitt from PepsiCo, where he held a variety of senior operational and strategic leadership positions.

Before PepsiCo, he was a partner at McKinsey & Co with a focus on the consumer, health and retail practices.

Chris Sinclair, chairman of the Reckitt Board, said: “We conducted a thorough process to identify a new CEO and the Board and I are confident Kris Licht is the right leader to take Reckitt forward, building on the strong momentum in the business after three years of successful transformation.

“Kris has been instrumental in Reckitt’s transformation through his strategic role and his strong operational leadership in the turnaround of our Health GBU over the last three years.

“He has a deep understanding of Reckitt’s business, customers, brands and culture. He brings extensive experience and a broad range of skills to the role and is an excellent fit to lead Reckitt in the next exciting phase of its journey.”

Licht said: “Over the past four years I have been privileged to be a part of the transformation journey and have seen the extraordinary ownership, entrepreneurial spirit and drive for performance that our people demonstrate every day.

“As our recent performance shows, it is clear we are delivering, and after significant investment we are well positioned to generate consistent, strong shareholder returns.”

Durante added: “Reckitt is a truly exceptional company with strong brands operating in great categories, and a culture anchored on our values of own, create, deliver and care.

“Kris lives these values every day which, combined with his knowledge of the business, its customers and his success in turning around our Health GBU, makes him the right leader to take Reckitt to even greater heights.”

Reckitt has also today published a quarter one trading update, in which it reports group like-for-like (LFL) net revenue growth of 7.9%.

The group says it has seen broad-based growth across all its business units and geographies. It expects group LFL net revenue growth of 3% to 5% for the year.

Durante said: “We have made a strong start to the year across each of our business units and geographies reflecting further delivery from the investments we have made.

“In particular, our innovation programme has seen good early success across multiple launches, including Air Wick Active Fresh and Air Wick Vibrant, Finish Ultimate Plus All-In-One, our Dettol long-lasting germ protection platform, and Durex Invisible.

“Lysol performed in line with expectations, and we continue to expect Lysol to return to growth from Q2 underpinned by improved distribution and innovation.  

“Europe delivered a strong quarter across Health and Hygiene and China is yet to show the full benefit of reopening.”