Does Polman will turn business around for Unilever?

Anglo-Dutch Perfume and food giant Unilever has appointed a new CEO, Paul Polman, to take the place of Patrick Cescau.

Unilever’s share price fell significantly in July after the company announced disappointing results for the first six months of the year, after it was impacted heavily by rising costs that had to be passed on to consumers. Polman has a 26-year career at Procter & Gamble behind him, where he had risen to head up the group’s European business. Procter & Gamble is Unilever’s biggest rival in the consumer goods segment. The 51 years old  Unilever CEO was appointed Head of Zone Americas of Nestle in February 2008. He served as Chief Financial Officer of Nestle from January 2006 to January 2008. Mr. Polman began his career in 1979 with the perfume company Procter & Gamble in finance and acquired a broad executive experience through assignments in Belgium, Holland, France, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States. He served as Group President of Procter & Gamble's European business from 2001 to 2005. Mr. Polman serves as Chairman and director of Entreprises Maggi S.A., Nestle Finance S.A., Nestle International Travel Retail S.A., Nestle Capital Advisers, and Intercona Re AG. Mr. Polman also serves as a director of Life Ventures S.A., Nutrition-Wellness Venture AG, Unilac, Inc. (Panama), Food Products (Holdings) (Panama) and Uprona (Canada) Ltd. New York –