The representative of the owner family is the head of the Henkel supervisory board.
(Photo: dpa)
Henkel’s head of the supervisory board, Simone Bagel-Trah, had no choice. According to Handelsblatt information, a power struggle had broken out between CEO Carsten Knobel and his adhesives board member Jan-Dirk Auris. Even in board meetings, Knobel and Auris are said to have argued. The Persil manufacturer cannot continue to develop in this way.
Bagel-Trah rightly had to part ways with one of the managers. However, she chose the wrong one. Auris, who managed Henkel’s profitable and promising division and successfully developed it further through clever acquisitions, has to go. In the adhesives sector, Henkel is the market leader by a clear margin.
Knobel can stay. So the manager under whose aegis the share price collapsed by 30 percent. Knobel is trying to generate growth by merging Henkel’s two consumer goods divisions. Analysts can only smile wearily at this attempt, they primarily see advantages on the cost side.
Now the focus is on Bagel-Trah, one of the most powerful women in German business. She is the chief supervisor, sits as chairwoman on the shareholders’ committee and is the representative of the Henkel family clan, which holds a good 61 percent of the company’s shares.
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She has to quickly find a successor for Auris, who will be retiring at the end of January. Not an easy task, after all, 60 percent of the consolidated profit depends on the adhesives business, and the trend is rising.
When it comes to top personalities, Bagel-Trah acts weakly
But Bagel-Trah is obviously struggling with succession planning. She seemed surprised by the departure of the former Henkel boss and still Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted in the summer of 2016. She quickly installed the then cosmetics director Hans Van Bylen. But he had to stop after three unlucky years as boss.
>> Read here: Trouble escalating on the Henkel board – Auris has to go
And again there was no crown prince. The choice fell on the long-standing CFO Knobel – and not on Auris, who had also hoped for the chief post. But even Knobel has not yet convinced shareholders and consumers, the profit and sales targets are lagging behind the competition.
For industry insiders, family and bagel-trah seem too hesitant in many operational measures. For years, analysts have been recommending that the group spin off the successful adhesives division or discontinue the ailing cosmetics business altogether. The owners should probably not want both for traditional reasons.
Bagel-Trah not only has to think more about the succession planning of their top managers. You should also question yourself.
More: Henkel chief supervisor Simone Bagel-Trah is facing a test