Lindt Chocolate on the hunt for a new CEO
Adalbert Lechner is stepping down as chief executive; the company’s performance has been weighed down by its poor stock market performance: shares have fallen by 28 per cent since the start of the year
In an attempt to reorganise the entire management structure during one of the most critical phases for the Swiss confectionery giant, Adalbert Lechner is stepping down as head of Lindt & Sprüngli. Weighing on the situation is the company’s poor performance on the stock market: shares have fallen by 28 per cent since the start of the year, bringing market capitalisation to 19.4 billion francs
In the wake of the Swiss confectionery industry’s deepest crisis, Lindt is looking for a new chief executive. After four turbulent years in which the company had to contend with a historic rise in cocoa prices and an equally sharp fall in demand, Adalbert Lechner has stepped down from his role as CEO of the confectionery giant less than a month after the second profit warning. Pending the appointment of the company’s new leader, expected in the second quarter of 2027, operational management has been entrusted to Dieter Weisskopf, vice-chairman of the board of directors and former CEO of Lindt & Sprüngli until 2022. The change in leadership comes at the height of a critical phase: the company, with a falling market capitalisation now standing at 19.4 billion francs, has seen its share price fall by 28 per cent since the start of the year and a negative total return of 36 per cent over the past 12 months. The main cause of the crisis is the rise in the price of cocoa, driven by a combination of real factors such as adverse weather conditions, crop diseases and financial speculation, with historic peaks of 10,000 dollars per tonne between late 2024 and early 2025. Furthermore, Lindt’s premium positioning has prevented the substitution of cocoa as a raw material with vegetable oils, leading to a 20 per cent rise in sales prices in 2025 alone.
The change in leadership and the need for reorganisation
Last month, Lindt revised its sales forecasts downwards due to the latest surge in cocoa costs, which rose to 4,356 pounds (5,803 dollars) per tonne, compared with 2,057 pounds per tonne in February. Despite the announcement by the now former CEO that prices would be moderated ahead of the Christmas stock-up period, the share price continued to fall. In reality, what is needed is a genuine change of direction, involving a reorganisation of the entire management structure. “The board of directors should also be subject to critical scrutiny: we believe it could have intervened sooner, particularly given Lechner’s extensive experience in Germany and Austria,” said Jean-Philippe Bertschy, head of Swiss equity research at Vontobel. It is no coincidence that the company has appointed new coordinators in both Austria and Germany, markets in which it has encountered the greatest difficulties.
