Yahoo Finance McCormick Appoints Kurzius as New COO, President - Analyst Blog
McCormick & Co., Inc (MKC) recently announced that it has appointed Lawrence Kurzius as its new chief operating officer (‘COO’) and president, effective from Jan 5, 2015. Kurzius will report directly to McCormick’s chairman and chief executive officer (‘CEO’), Alan D. Wilson, and will assume responsibilities for McCormick's businesses worldwide.
Kurzius was so far serving as the President Global Consumer, President of the Americas and China, and Chief Administrative Officer. Even after becoming the COO, Kurzius will continue to lead the Global Quality, Supply Chain and R&D Corporate functions and act as President Global Consumer and President North America.
He is a BA in Economics from Princeton University. He has been associated with McCormick for 11 years and has held various leadership positions in the company. He has served as a member of the Management Committee since 2007 and held various positions including President US Consumer, President of the International businesses including Europe, Middle East, Africa (“EMEA”), China and Asia Pacific Zone (‘’APZ’’).
Before joining MKC, Kurzius was the CEO of Zatarain's, a food and spice company in New Orleans, which was acquired by McCormick in 2003. Kurzius had also held marketing positions with Uncle Ben's, a division of U.S.-based food processing company Mars Inc. and the Quaker Oats Company, an American food conglomerate, owned by PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) since 2001.
We note that McCormick has witnessed a 20% rise in spice, herb and seasoning purchases in the last five years, owing to the rising demand for flavors. Therefore, the company regularly enhances its products through innovation in order to remain competitive and tap the rising demand for new flavors, spices and herbs, which are fast replacing demand for sugar, salt and fat.
McCormick’s increasing focus on saving costs and enhancing productivity through its ongoing initiative, the Comprehensive Continuous Improvement (‘CCI’) program, which started in 2009, is also encouraging.
However, weak demand from quick service restaurants, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, remains a concern over the near term. In Asia, demand has been impacted by consumer concern about bird flu in China.
We expect the new COO of McCormick to better understand the overall strengths and weaknesses of the business as he has in-depth knowledge of the company’s operations. His experience is expected to benefit the company and is expected to take the business to the next level.
The company currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the food industry include Aramark Holding (ARMK) and United Natural Foods Inc (UNFI). While Aramark Holding sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), United Natural carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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