Pladis has named Mete Buyurgan as its new managing director for UK & Ireland, replacing David Murray who has been promoted to global chief commercial officer.
Effective from 6 April, Buyurgan takes over UK&I operations of the snack manufacturing giant having led its Turkish, Eastern European, and Central Asian division since 2016. Under his nine-year stewardship, the division “grew revenue and profit despite significant headwinds and positioned itself at the forefront of the sustainability debate”, Pladis said.
Buyurgan has also been CEO of Ülker for the past five years – the Turkish snack brand joins the likes of McVitie’s, Jacob’s, Carr’s, Go Ahead!, Flipz, and BN on the Pladis portfolio.
Meanwhile, Murray is stepping up to the newly created role of global CCO, where he is to take ownership of the company’s global platform and brand strategy as well as its commercial transformation. He has been serving as Pladis UK&I MD since joining from PepsiCo in September 2019, where he spent almost 25 years in various senior positions including SVP and general manager of the Concentrate Solutions division.
The latest leadership shakeup at Pladis follows the news of its global CEO Salman Amin leaving the company with immediate effect due to personal reasons. Chief financial officer Sridhar Ramamurthy and Tim Brett, who only just began his expanded role as managing director Europe and developing markets at the start of the year, have assumed temporary oversight of Pladis until a permanent replacement can be found.
Pladis was founded in 2016 when its parent company Yildiz Holding merged several of its subsidiaries including United Biscuits. Made at 27 bakeries and factories across 11 different nations by a 16,000-strong workforce, its products are now sold in more than 110 countries worldwide.
Pladis UK’s most recent financial results showed record sales growth of 14.9% with revenue reaching £984.4m during 2023. The company noted this was largely attributable to increased product prices in response to unprecedented cost inflation.
Commenting on the latest appointments, Pladis chief human resources officer Geraldine Fraser said: “We have made tremendous progress together on our mission to build one of the world’s fastest growing snacks companies. Today, we take another step on that journey to evolve our business and position us for continued growth in an ever-changing retail and consumer landscape.”
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