David Shannon Treatt CEO

Newly appointed Treatt CEO David Shannon

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Drinks ingredients supplier Treatt has appointed David Shannon as group chief executive to fill the vacancy left by long-term boss Daemmon Reeve, who stood down at the end of 2023.

Shannon joins from Croda International, a London-listed speciality chemical manufacturer, where he held a number of senior roles, recently as president of consumer care and an executive committee member.

Treatt said he had “extensive” experience in selling specialty ingredients in the B2B environment for the flavour and fragrance, personal care, pharmaceutical and agricultural industries worldwide.

Shannon also spent 13 years in various roles in the US, a key market for Treatt, and has recently overseen a new manufacturing project in China.

He starts in the role on 3 June, with Ryan Govender and Alison Sleight continuing as interim CEO interim CFO respectively until then.

Treatt chairman Vijay Thakrar said: “Following a robust search process that attracted a number of high quality candidates, we are thrilled that David is joining the Treatt team.

“He has highly relevant international experience delivering growth in an innovation led group, with a motivational and collaborative leadership style, which will enable him to lead Treatt through its next, exciting phase. The board and I look forward to working closely with David, Ryan and our leadership team as they focus on realising the full potential of Treatt following the investments of recent years.”

Shannon added: “I am honoured to be joining Treatt as CEO, a company that has a remarkable history of delivering excellence to its customers through sustainability, innovation and agility, supported by a unique culture.

“I am looking forward to working with everyone at Treatt to build on its strong foundation, unlock new opportunities and chart a path of sustained success.”

Treatt’s shares opened down 0.8% to 401p.

Morning update

THG has confirmed an extension to its revolving credit facility by 17 months to May 2026.

The £170m facility remained undrawn since its IPO and there would be no changes to the financial covenants or interest margin beyond the existing maturity date, the group said.

From December 2024, the facility will be £150m.

THG addes that its closing net leverage for FY 2023 was c.1.8x, compared with 2.8x for FY 2022, while continued positive momentum into FY 2024 provided confidence of further degearing.

“The extension affords the group continued significant financial flexibility during uncertain geo-political times,” a short statement to the LSE said.

“As at December 2023 the Group had c.£600m of cash and undrawn facilities providing substantial liquidity and flexibility, to capitalise on growth opportunities.”

The FTSE 100 fell 0.2% to 7,668.13pts upon opening this morning.

THG shares climbed 2.2% to 64.3p following the update on its financial health.

Early morning fallers included Glanbia, down 5.1% to €16.22, Ocado, down 2.6% to 463.5p, Bakkavor, down 2.3% to 94.3p, and McBride, down 0.9% to 89.2p.

Risers were few and far between, with Deliveroo up 1% to 114.1p and Greencore up 0.6% to 103p.

This week in the City

The big news of the week will be Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s spring Budget on Wednesday.

Before that, the latest Nielsen grocery sales figures, BRC-KPMG retail sales data for February and Barclays consumer spending report are out tomorrow morning.

High street bakery chain Greggs is also due to publish full-year results first thing, with prepared foods group Bakkavor also reporting finals.

Wednesday sees Vimto maker Nichols report preliminaries, while packaging firm DS Smith puts out a trading update for Q3.

Internationally, Jack Daniel’s and Woodford Reserve owner Brown-Forman and Campbell’s Soup report quarterly results in the US on Wednesday, while Costco and Ocado partner Kroger follow on Thursday.