As of Jan 1, 2018, Kitzmantel’s responsibility as CEO will be assigned to Marco Peter, who has been with the premium chocolate maker since 2014. Peter is currently the country manager at Lindt’s Italian subsidiary Caffarel.
Additionally, Kitzmantel’s duties as group management member will be handed over to other members, according to Lindt.
Lindt said in a statement that, in Kitzmantel’s role as the CEO of Lindt & Sprüngli Switzerland, he “successfully led the organization and turned the company into a dynamic, growing and profitable business unit in a challenging environment.”
Lindt’s sales increased by 3.1%, reaching CHF 1.549bn ($1.603bn) in the first half of 2017, which equates to organic growth of 3.6%.
Excluding Russell Stover, whose sales were declining during the period due to “strategic realignment in the challenging US chocolate market,” Lindt experienced an organic growth of 6.6%, the company said.