IN Brief:
- Simon Harrison will step down as Princes Group CEO and board director on 30 June 2026.
- Chief commercial officer Giuseppe Mastrolia will become interim CEO from 1 July.
- The change comes as Princes manages post-acquisition integration, public-market scrutiny, and UK manufacturing cost pressure.
Princes Group has begun a formal succession process after chief executive Simon Harrison confirmed he will step down as CEO and board director on 30 June 2026.
Giuseppe Mastrolia, currently chief commercial officer and executive board director, will become interim chief executive from 1 July. He joined the group in July 2024 as a board director following the acquisition of Princes by NewPrinces and later became chief commercial officer. He previously served for nine years as chief executive of NewPrinces Group.
Harrison has served the group for five years, including the past two as chief executive. During that period, Princes moved through acquisition integration, transition into a publicly listed structure, and wider repositioning as part of NewPrinces Group.
Angelo Mastrolia, chairman of Princes Group, said: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Simon for his contribution and leadership of the Company through the integration of Princes and especially during the transition to a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange. We wish him well for the future.”
Princes has said trading remains in line with expectations.
The leadership change lands at one of the UK’s most prominent ambient food and drink manufacturers. Princes operates across food, soft drinks, edible oils, canned fish, tomatoes, pasta, ready meals, home baking, sauces, and ambient grocery, with a European manufacturing footprint and a global supply base.
That breadth gives the company scale, but it also creates a demanding operating model. Princes has to manage international sourcing, manufacturing efficiency, commodity exposure, packaging costs, retailer negotiations, brand investment, and compliance across several categories. The next permanent chief executive will inherit a business where commercial strategy and factory economics are tightly linked.
UK food manufacturers continue to face weak consumer demand, elevated operating costs, packaging regulation, labour constraints, and pressure from retailer pricing. March’s wider market review noted that Princes had signalled price increases where needed to offset fuel, transport, and packaging cost pressure. Those pressures remain a central part of the sector’s operating environment.
Public-market status adds further discipline. Listed food businesses have less room for broad transformation language when results, margins, and capital allocation are being watched closely. Investors will look for evidence that integration, procurement, manufacturing discipline, and portfolio decisions are translating into stable returns.
Leadership transitions in manufacturing businesses are particularly sensitive during integration periods. Production assets, brand plans, procurement frameworks, IT systems, customer agreements, and capital projects all require continuity. An interim chief executive with previous NewPrinces leadership experience may help maintain that continuity while the permanent appointment process runs.
For suppliers and manufacturing partners, the immediate focus will be pace of decision-making. Product launches, sourcing decisions, packaging changes, and plant investment continue during a leadership search. Delays in those areas can quickly move from governance issue to operational friction.
Princes now needs to keep the succession process from overshadowing the manufacturing plan. In ambient food, canned protein, edible oils, soft drinks, and ready meals, price sensitivity and input cost volatility leave little margin for drift. Leadership stability is part of the operating system, not simply a boardroom concern.
