Domino’s Australia Shares Sink as CEO Plans Exit After One Year | Company Business News

(Bloomberg) — Shares of Domino’s Pizza Enterprises Ltd. tumbled to their lowest since 2013 after the company said Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Mark van Dyck will step down after just one year in the role.

The stock fell as much as 26% in Sydney on Wednesday after the Brisbane, Australia-based company said Van Dyck will leave in December. Billionaire fast food magnate Jack Cowin has been appointed interim executive chairman effective immediately, according to an exchange statement.

“This announcement is a surprise and adds to the uncertainty” at a time when Domino’s is attempting to reset its business, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note.

The departure comes after an overhaul of the firm’s global leadership in the past year. Van Dyck succeeded CEO and Managing Director Don Meij, who had been with Domino’s for almost 40 years, in November.

Cowin is the company’s biggest shareholder and was already its chairman. He is also the chairman and managing director of CFAL Group, operator of the Hungry Jack’s chain, which holds the master franchise for Burger King in Australia.

The board is undertaking a global search process for a new group CEO, it said in a statement. 

Van Dyck oversaw the closure of 205 underperforming stores in Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

“With a clear strategy and strong team in place, I believe the time will be right at the end of this calendar year to hand over to the next CEO,” Van Dyck said in the statement.

The company’s ANZ CEO Kerri Hayman will step down in August, it said in May.

(Updates share price move, adds analyst comments in 3rd paragraph)

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