Lindt CEO Lechner Leaves After Two Guidance Cuts; Former Chief Weisskopf Returns as Interim

Three weeks after cutting its sales forecast for the second time this year, Lindt & Sprüngli has changed the person at the top — and reached back to the chief executive who ran the company until 2022.

Lindt & Sprüngli announced on Monday, October 19, 2026 that Group CEO Adalbert Lechner will leave the company, ending a tenure that began in October 2022. Dieter Weisskopf, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors and former Group CEO, will assume leadership of the Group as interim CEO with immediate effect, in addition to his responsibility as Vice-Chairman, while the Board of Directors has initiated a search process to identify a permanent successor. The board said it had concluded that Lindt & Sprüngli requires new operational leadership to return to consistent, strong growth and to capture opportunities in all its markets globally.

A departure three weeks after the second cut

The timing leaves little room for coincidence. On September 29, 2026, Lindt cut its 2026 sales forecast for the second time this year, saying Europeans bought less chocolate as temperatures broke records across the continent and after it had to hike its prices due to the surging cost of cocoa. The updated outlook puts 2026 organic sales growth at just 0% to 2%, down from the 4% to 6% range the company had been guiding to and below the 3.9% market consensus cited by Vontobel; it had already cut the guidance in March. Lechner said at the time that cocoa prices have risen by about 80% over the last six months alone, that price rises had made shoppers increasingly price-sensitive, and that the European heatwave had reduced growth by roughly 1.5%. Lindt shares hit their lowest price since March 2021 in early trading that day and were down 6.6%, at the bottom of Europe's benchmark STOXX 600 index. The company kept one promise intact through both cuts: it maintained its guidance for a 20- to 40-basis-point rise in its 2026 operating profit margin, and reiterated its medium-term targets for 6% to 8% organic sales growth.

Executive Chairman Ernst Tanner framed the change as a growth decision, not a crisis. Tanner said the Board is convinced that this leadership change will drive future growth, that the company's brands and market positions are strong, and that its focus continues to be on delivering exceptional products and experiences for consumers and on profitable growth for shareholders. He thanked Lechner for his important contribution to Lindt & Sprüngli over his 33-year career with the company, saying Lechner has helped shape the Group's growth trajectory over many years.

The interim chief's brief starts in Europe

Weisskopf led Lindt & Sprüngli as CEO until 2022 and has served on the Board since then, so the interim appointment is a known quantity rather than a search under pressure. His own statement sets the order of work: return the European business to growth first, while building on the strong performance in North America and in Asia-Pacific markets such as Australia, China and Japan, where the company continues to gain market share. Weisskopf said the company will invest significantly in its brands while improving its profitability, and described his task as handing over to the next CEO a company with renewed momentum. The reset extends below group level: Michal Spiller, CEO Germany, will leave the company and Ali Kulein, currently CEO Austria, will succeed him, subject to formal approval by the local supervisory board, while Fabian Reinhardt, Head of Global Sales, will succeed Kulein as CEO Austria — both changes take effect on October 26, 2026. Germany and Austria are not a footnote: they are the markets at the centre of the current debate about Lindt's European performance.

A long search, and a stock that has already voted

Investors get an interim chief now and a permanent answer much later — the company expects to appoint a new CEO in the second quarter of 2027. Reuters reported that Lindt shares, which have shed a quarter of their value so far this year, were seen rising 0.7% in Julius Baer premarket indications on Monday, a muted first reaction that suggests the departure was read as overdue rather than alarming. Vontobel analysts argued the board itself should also face scrutiny, saying it could have intervened earlier and that they would welcome further board renewal next spring. The scale of what the next chief inherits is not in doubt: Lindt & Sprüngli reported sales of CHF 5.92 billion in 2025, employs around 15,500 people and produces at 12 factories in Europe and the USA. The next scheduled checkpoint is the company's 2026 net sales publication on Tuesday, January 19, 2027 — by then Weisskopf will have owned a full quarter of the European recovery he has promised, and the board's search will be the story alongside the numbers.