Synlait Milk Chief Executive Has Resigned

Synlait Milk chief executive Leon Clement has resigned. He will leave the dairy manufacturer at the end of this month and former chief executive and co-founder John Penno will fill the position until a replacement is found. Leon Clement joined the company in September 2018 from Fonterra Brands New Zealand. During his time at Synlait, he has overseen the development of a new factory at Pokeno, a new liquid plant at Dunsandel and spent $150 million to buy cheese companies Talbot Forest Cheese and Dairyworks. But the pressure has been mounting with Synlait’s shares dropping 52 per cent of their value over the past year as Synlait was hampered by its biggest customer, a2 Milk’s Covid-19 pandemic impact. No reason has been given for the resignation, and Synlait shares closed at $3.50 on Friday, compared with $7.32 a year earlier.