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LONDON, June 24 (Reuters) - British sweeteners maker Tate &Lyle on Tuesday said its chief financial officer (CFO),Tim Lodge, would be replaced in August by PepsiCo executive Nick Hampton.
Tate & Lyle's shares are down nearly 16 percent this yearafter warning that cheap competition from China was denting itssucralose pricing, while a long and harsh U.S. winter hurtdemand for soft drinks.
Lodge, who has been CFO since 2008, will serve in hiscurrent role until Aug. 31 and will then leave after a shorttransition period.
Hampton, who has been at PepsiCo for more than 20 years, wasmost recently the soda and snack company's president of WestEurope. That experience was seen as highly relevant, sincePepsiCo is a major Tate & Lyle customer.
"We would expect Hampton to bring best-in-class commercialand financial perspectives, honed in a major multinational, plussome highly relevant customer insight," said Jefferies analystMartin Deboo in a research note, who said the transition seemednatural, given that Lodge had been in the role six years and hadspent his whole career at Tate & Lyle. (Reporting by Martinne Geller; Editing by Mark Potter)
