Food group Danone launches shakeup

With its share price down by over a quarter this year, French food group Danone is having a shakeup.

On Monday (Oct 19) it said it was launching a review of its assets.

And was reshaping its management to cope better with challenges caused by the pandemic.

The world's largest yogurt maker, which is putting about $588 million worth of assets up for sale, said it aimed to "rapidly reconnect" with its growth goals.

That involves looking at strategic options for its Argentina business and North American Vega plant-based brand.

It added that further pruning of underperforming assets will be on the cards.

Danone posted a 2.5% drop in like-for-like third quarter sales, slightly worse than analysts expected.

A fall in out-of-home consumption due to the pandemic continued to hit sales of its bottled waters division.

And travel restrictions in Asia weighed on sales in China.

Boss Emmanuel Faber's strategy has focused on diversifying the group's portfolio into fast-growing plant based products and probiotics.

But disruption caused by the coronavirus has dealt a blow to Faber's turnaround efforts and in April Danone withdrew its financial guidance for 2020.

As part of its top management shake-up, Danone announced that its Chief Financial Officer will be replaced in February.