Pablo Isla, former president of Inditex and current advisor to the Cinven fund, has just been appointed vice president of the Nestlé Group, the Swiss multinational of which he has been a director for five years and whose term expired this year. The company, which held its shareholders meeting last week, approved the appointment of him as lead independent director as well as chairman of the Nomination Committee.
Isla replaces Henri de Castries in the position, who after 12 years as vice president has not stood for re-election due to the internal term limit in the company.
Pablo Isla was appointed director by the Nestlé shareholders meeting in April 2018. The company highlighted at that time his “extensive experience in the retail”, especially in e-commerce, in addition to his knowledge in supply chain, innovation and governance. The manager will continue for six more years on the Nestlé board of directors, despite having left the presidency of Inditex in March 2022.
Since then, he has joined different projects. Since January 1, he has been a global advisor to the Cinven fund, as well as president of one of the companies it invests in, the renewables firm Amara Nzero. Isla is also president of the governing council of IE University, advisor to the private equity General Atlantic, and member of several boards of trustees.
At its 157th shareholders meeting, Nestlé also approved the latest accounts, as well as the proposed dividend of 3 Swiss francs per share and the capital reduction. The dividend represents an increase of 5 cents compared to the previous year.
At the end of February, Nestlé presented its latest annual results for the 2023 financial year, which showed a growth in net profit of 21%, reaching 11.2 billion Swiss francs, about 11.75 billion euros, although with a drop in revenue of 1. 5% up to 93 billion Swiss francs, 97.5 billion euros.
This is despite the fact that the increase in prices at the end of the year reached 7.5% compared to the previous year, which would indicate a drop in the volumes sold. The multinational’s shares on the Swiss Stock Exchange are still moving at lowest trading levels since the pandemic.