Simply Good Foods turns again to ex-CEO amid GLP-1 advance

It’s antithetic for a concern to re-appoint an aged main enforcement arsenic CEO but this week The Simply Good Foods Company – location to brands including Quest and OWYN – has done precisely that. And the emergence of GLP-1 drugs provides immoderate absorbing context.

Joe Scalzo, who had been Simply Good Foods’ CEO for six years up to July 2023, is returning to the US institution to regenerate Geoff Tanner, the concern down the Atkins marque said yesterday (20 January), overmuch to Wall Street’s surprise.

After being succeeded by Tanner, Scalzo had moved to the relation of enforcement vice chairman, a presumption helium held for 13 months up to August 2024 erstwhile helium near Simply Good Foods to go a spouse astatine US private-equity steadfast Centerview Partners.

Scalzo’s departure 18 months agone had marked the extremity of conscionable implicit a decennary astatine the business. He was president and CEO of Atkins Nutritionals for four-and-half years up to its merchantability successful 2017 to blank-cheque institution Conyers Park Acquisition Corp. successful the SPAC woody that formed Simply Good Foods. Scalzo was past CEO of the caller entity.

Now helium is backmost to, successful the words of Tuesday’s (20 January) statement, “oversee a caller section at Simply Good Foods focused connected reigniting maturation and improving profitability crossed the business”. The instrumentality of Scalzo could, Wall Street analysts suggest, supply a boost to the Atkins brand.

The shakes-and-snacks concern has seen its apical and bottommost lines travel nether unit successful caller quarters amid the ongoing declining income from Atkins, merchandise issues successful the OWYN concern and sluggishness astatine Quest.

In the twelvemonth to the extremity of August, Simply Good Foods generated nett income of $1.45bn, up 9% connected the erstwhile 12 months. However, the company’s nett income stood astatine $103.6m, down from $139.3m a twelvemonth earlier, arsenic it booked a $60.9m impairment connected the Atkins brand.

Two weeks ago, Simply Good Foods recorded a 0.3% diminution successful nett income for the archetypal 4th of its caller fiscal twelvemonth amid little Atkins income (which the institution described arsenic “expected”; much connected that later) and from OWYN, a marque that had been enjoying a tally of growth. The institution snapped up US protein-products adjacent Only What You Need (or OWYN for short) successful 2024 and the marque continued to bask increasing income nether its caller owners but a “product prime issue” deed inventories astatine the retail level during the quarter.

The company’s first-quarter nett income fell much than a 3rd to $25.3m. Despite those numbers, the absorption from Wall Street was not unduly negative, though determination was a cautionary code from TD Cowen’s Robert Moskow, who, portion describing the figures arsenic “better than feared”, highlighted immoderate of the issues that helium saw facing the business.