Kraft Heinz says Paulo Basilio to return as chief financial officer

Kraft Heinz has announced that Paulo Basilio will return to the role of chief financial officer, effective 1 September.

The company said that “seasoned veteran” Basilio will take over the position from current CFO David Knopf, who will return to 3G Capital, where he has been a partner since 2015.

Basilio, 44, served as CFO of Kraft Heinz from 2015 until 2017. Since last month, he has been the firm’s chief business planning and development officer.

The announcement is the first major move by new CEO Miguel Patricio since he took the helm of the company earlier this year after joining from AB InBev.

In its fourth-quarter results published in February, Kraft Heinz wrote down the value of assets including its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands by $15 billion. It also announced it received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission about its accounting and procurement policies. As a result of the poor figures, David Knopf said the firm now “expects to take a step backwards in 2019”.

Earlier this month, Kraft Heinz revealed its operating income in the first half of the year was half the size it was than the same period last year. The company also reported two impairment charges totalling $1.2 billion. 

In the six months to the end of June, the firm posted net sales of $12.4 billion, down 4.8% compared to the year-ago period. Operating income was $1.27 billion.