Stephen Audsley has been appointed chief executive officer of Peters Ice Cream. The decision forms part of the transition of Peters Ice Cream from Nestlé to Pacific Equity Partners (PEP) since its acquisition of the company in August. Audsley replaces Juan Reyes, who has managed Peters since 2008 and will now return to Nestlé.
Audsley was the chief executive of Breville Group for four years, however he quit over a year ago citing family reasons. During his time with Breville the company developed and implemented its ‘food thinking’ and ‘simple moments of brilliance’ concepts, which saw it increase its market share and profits in the home appliance and food segments in Australia and internationally.
Prior to this, Audsley spent 16 years at Pacific brands, which owned Peters Ice Cream until 1995 when it sold the business to Nestlé. He also has ten years' experience managing such brands such as Adidas and Dunlop/Slazenger.
"I am looking forward to working with the team to fully realise Peters' growth potential through further developing our channels to market, taking advantage of our heritage and creating new products that appeal to a broader, deeper customer base," Audsley said.
Swiss food giant Nestlé sold Peters Ice Cream to PEP in June for an undisclosed sum. Peters Ice Cream has achieved consistently strong growth and booked earnings of almost $25 million in 2011. It holds market leadership positions in both the grocery and route channels, which represent around 60 per cent and 40 per cent of the total icecream market respectively.
Peters Ice Cream is PEP's sixth investment in the FMCG space. Other investments include Frucor, Tegal, Griffin's and Independent Liquor.
