Pat O’Driscoll has surprised the City by stepping down as chief executive of Northern Foods to pursue other opportunities.
She has declined to comment on the move, but is understood to be exploring roles in food retailing.
She will be replaced by Stefan Barden, executive director of the chilled and bakery divisions, who joined the firm in January 2006 and is former md of Heinz UK and Ireland.
“Since arriving at Northern Foods three years ago, I have completed an extensive restructuring, including the sale of 40% of the business and the development of a high quality management team able to meet our customers’ service standards,” said O’Driscoll.
“Today Northern Foods is a simpler, more resilient and more competitive business and I believe it is the right time for me to move on.”
Panmure Gordon analyst Graham Jones said Barden had impressed the board by stabilising "what, at the time, looked to be a worryingly deteriorating business [the chilled division]. He has only been with the company since the start of 2006, but has clearly impressed the board enough to earn a quick promotion."
However, he faced some difficult decisions, said Jones: "We believe the frozen pastry business and the frozen burger businesses should be sold, having no competitive advantage in unattractive categories. Equally, we believe Burton’s and Northern’s biscuits businesses should be combined in order to create a more effective competitor to the dominant United Biscuits."
He added: "Stefan doesn’t have a magic wand, and there are still significant challenges in the short term. In particular, we believe Northern faces significant challenges to pass on input price inflation, especially flour in biscuit and pizza categories where promotional activity remains high."
O’Driscoll joined Northern Foods in March 2004 and led the business through a period of radical transformation, culminating in the disposal of its non-core businesses, which was completed last month.
She had come under pressure to leave in the past following several profit warnings from the manufacturer.