Coca-Cola Enterprises names John Brock CEO

Coca-Cola Enterprises names John Brock CEO

Coca-Cola Enterprises names John Brock CEO

Coca-Cola Enterprises named John Brock, a former Cadbury Schweppes executive, as its new chief executive officer on Tuesday afternoon.

Atlanta-based CCE, the largest bottler of Coke products in the world, has officially been searching for a new leader since John Alm resigned in December.

Brock, 57, spent nearly 20 years at Cadbury, rising all the way to chief operating officer. He left Cadbury, the maker of Dr Pepper, in early 2003 after Todd Stitzer was named CEO.

Brock became CEO of Interbrew, a Belgium brewer. Under Brock's leadership, Interbrew merged with Brazilian beer behemoth, AmBev. Though Brock initially emerged as the leader of the newly named InBev, he left when his contract was not renewed. An AmBev executive ended up with the top job at InBev.

"Coca-Cola Enterprises is at an exciting point in its 20-year history, and I look forward to building on the company's rich legacy and strong foundation," Brock said in a statement.

Brock is, however, inheriting challenges as well.

Though CCE is quite profitable – it earned $514 million last year – it has struggled to grow its sales volume in recent years, particularly in Europe. The stock price is sluggish. And more than 50 smaller bottlers in North American filed lawsuits against CCE and Coke earlier this year over a new distribution method that CCE is using to distribute PowerAde to Wal-Mart.

In 2005, the company's European volume declined 2 percent. Volume, a key measure in the beverage industry, is the number of cases sold. The company blames increased concerns about obesity in European markets like France and the United Kingdom, as well as general economic malaise and the increasing popularity of discount retailers. The company has said it expects to return to growth in 2006 in Europe, projecting a 1 percent to 2 percent volume increase for the year.

In North America, CCE grew its sales volume last year, although modestly. Volume was up 1 percent for the year. The company has said it will grow volume 1 percent to 2 percent in 2006.

CCE Chairman Lowry Kline, who has been serving as interim CEO, said in a statement: "John's global operations, marketing and brand experience make him uniquely suited to address today's complex marketplace dynamics."

For Brock, the new job offers a bit of a homecoming. He grew up in Mississippi and received both a bachelor's and a master's degree from Georgia Tech.