Unilever has named Srinivas Phatak as its new chief financial officer after his predecessor was promoted to chief executive officer earlier this year.
Phatak took on the acting CFO role in February after Unilever unexpectedly ousted CEO Hein Schumacher and promoted then finance chief Fernando Fernandez to the top job.
Unilever said it conducted “a thorough internal and external search process” and concluded Phatak was the best person for the job after he “performed strongly” as interim CFO.
He will join the board immediately with an annual fixed pay of €1.2m plus annual bonuses and performance share plan awards.
Phatak joined Unilever in 1999 in finance and commercial roles in India in 1999. He was CFO of Hindustan Unilever and vice president of finance for South Asia from 2017 to 2021, during which time the India business grew both sales and profits. He had been deputy CFO and controller since 2022.
“Srinivas has been a great partner over the last six months as acting CFO and over many years as part of the Unilever leadership team,” said CEO Fernando Fernandez.
“His leadership and constructive challenge will be very valuable in driving consistent volume growth, margin expansion, and advancing our growth story.”
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the appointment of an insider ”makes sense when you consider the company is committed to a strategic plan which has been in place for some time.”
“While bringing in an outsider can offer a fresh perspective, retaining some continuity and having a senior leadership team which already has experience of working together is logical while the company completes its ice cream demerger and focuses on its so-called ‘power brands’.”
Unilever ousted Schumacher earlier this year after less than two years at the helm, seemingly dissatisfied with the speed of his turnaround.
Unilever chair Ian Meakins said at the time the board was “committed to accelerating the execution of our growth action plan”.
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