Carlsberg has appointed Jacob Aarup-Andersen as its new CEO Yesterday Carlsberg announced that Jacob Aarup-Andersen (45) will join Carlsberg as CEO, replacing Cees t''Hart who will retire by the end of Q323 at the latest. With this report we review Mr Aarup-Andersen''s career, the actions he took as CEO of ISS, and assess his suitability to lead Carlsberg. Negatives: a background in finance and little obvious Consumer experience The incoming CEO has spent much of his career as an investment professional. More recently Mr Aarup-Andersen was CFO at Danica Pension and then at Danske Bank, before taking up his most recent position as CEO of ISS, a listed facility management company. Mr Aarup-Andersen therefore appears to have little obvious operational experience in the consumer goods sector. At age 45 we also believe he will be the youngest CEO across our Large Cap European Staples coverage. Positives: a strong track-record at ISS and likely to be shareholder friendly On the positive side Mr Aarup-Andersen has a strong, albeit short, track record at ISS. He joined the company as CEO on 1 Sept 2020 when the business was facing significant challenges due to the pandemic and quickly launched his turnaround plan (OneISS) in Dec-20. Having executed the plan and hit the commitments laid out within it, we believe Mr. Aarup-Andersen is well-liked by ISS investors. Following news of his impending departure we note ISS shares dropped sharply, closing down c.-7% (Carlsberg''s further strengthened by c.+2% after the news). We would have preferred more Staples / operational experience but keep an open mind We have to be honest and say that we would have preferred someone with both more of a sector (beverages / consumer staples) and sales and marketing (as opposed to a finance) background. However, Mr. Aarup-Andersen has an impressive resume backed up by a strong, albeit short, track record as a CEO at ISS. We can therefore understand why he appears to be a...