There’s been CEO changes revealed at two mid-tier ASX companies, with some surprising links.
KMD Brands (ASX:KMD) has named a new CEO in Brent Scrimshaw, who will replace Michael Daley.
Meanwhile, Collins Foods (ASX:CKF) has naming former KMD Brands CEO Xavier Simone as its new boss.
And, to add to the links, Michael Daley, the outgoing boss of KMD, replaced the new boss of Collins back in 2021.
Of the two moves, the change at KMD is probably the more interesting. The company is coming off a rough year with losses, lower sales, but lower debt and lower stock. It looks like a turnaround situation.
Daley and his team seem to have positioned KMD for recovery. That’s after fighting through the impact of the pandemic in Australia and NZ (and in markets like the US) and then seeing a strong upswing as the lockdowns and restrictions were lifted in 2022-23, only to slide backwards in the inflation and high interest rates of 2023-2024.
KMD says Daley has informed the board of his intention to go at the end of the year. He has been with the company for 25 years, coming to the CEO role from Rip Curl.
Brent Scrimshaw has been a director of the company since 2017 and Global CEO of listed marketing services company Enero since 2020. Before that he was a senior executive with Nike.
At Collins Foods, Xavier Simonet starts in the CEO slot on 4 November. He has been running Austrade (the Australian Trade and Investment Commission) since leaving KMD, where he was CEO for six years.
He will be based in the company’s Brisbane office. He will oversee KFC and Taco Bell chains in Australia, the Netherlands and Germany.
He replaces former CEO Drew O'Malley, who announced in early June that he was leaving by 1 July 1. He had been granted an extended leave of absence in February to support his wife, Jola, during her treatment for a serious illness. She passed away in April, prompting O’Malley to resign to focus on his family.
Since then Collins has been run by an interim CEO while the board conducted a global search.
