ADAMA Announces Gaël Hili as President and CEO Replacing Steve Hawkins

Beijing, China, Tel Aviv, Israel, July 17, 2024 – ADAMA Ltd. (the “Company”) (SZSE 000553), a leading crop protection company, announced that its board of directors has appointed Gaël Hili as its President and Chief Executive Officer, effective October 1, 2024. Hili will join the Syngenta Group Leadership Team and will be based in Tel Aviv.

Mr. Hili will succeed Steve Hawkins, who has been appointed President of Syngenta Crop Protection and a member of the Syngenta Group Leadership Team, based in Basel, effective October 1, 2024. Steve will continue to be fully dedicated to driving ADAMA's ongoing business and transformation plan until his official appointment. 

Jeff Rowe, President and CEO of Syngenta Group, said: "I am pleased to welcome Gaël Hili as the new CEO of ADAMA and member of the Syngenta Group Leadership Team. Gaël brings extensive experience and a proven track record of driving profitable growth and leading successful organizational change. He is the ideal candidate to accelerate the implementation of ADAMA's transformation plan, successfully launched by Steve and the Global ADAMA Leadership Team earlier this year, to address the near-term financial health of the company and capture the fast-growing Value Innovation customer segment in ADAMA's leading markets. Under Gael’s leadership together with ADAMA’s strong Leadership Team, and the continued support of Syngenta Group, I am confident that ADAMA will turnaround, revalue and reposition for the benefit of all its stakeholders including customers, employees, investors and bondholders around the world.” 

Gaël Hili commented: "I am honored to take on the role of President and CEO at such a pivotal time for ADAMA. The Transformation plan has already shown promising improvement in ADAMA’s cash flow, demonstrating our commitment to financial health and operational excellence. My focus will be on accelerating this momentum, ensuring we meet our profit and cash targets over the next three years. By building on the solid foundation laid by Steve and the leadership team, I am dedicated to driving long-term success and value for all our stakeholders. Together with ADAMA’s committed and professional global teams, we will continue to transform ADAMA into a stronger, more resilient company."

Mr. Hili has dedicated most of his career to the agriculture industry, starting with operational and commercial roles at Dow AgroSciences in Europe and later at Dow Chemical Company, where he served as Global Marketing Director. In 2017, he joined Syngenta as Head of Europe East, where he led the team to significant market share growth in both the Seeds and Crop Protection businesses. Since December 2023, he has served as the Head of Europe Syngenta CP and Seeds Field Crops.

Mr. Hili holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France. 

About ADAMA Transformation Plan 

As announced in the Company's full year 2023 financial results report, ADAMA initiated a plan in the first quarter of 2024 to revalue ADAMA by improving the quality of the business to turnaround the ‎Company. The Company-wide transformation plan is aimed at gradually delivering profit and cash targets over a period of 3 years (2024-2026). Main aspects of the plan include:

• Evolved Operating Model
  • Changes in the senior leadership team
  • An evolved operating model to create focus and alignment to effectively deliver our strategy and better serve ADAMA’s markets, including organizational changes in R&D, marketing, commercial and operations.
• Geographic and customer focus: Focus on strategic crop segments within the Value Innovation customer segment, with high-value differentiated formulations.
   
• Portfolio focus:
  • Increase high-margin products: Continue to enhance the sales mix by increasing the proportion of high-margin products, supporting business quality and gross margin, as achieved in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.
  • Product transition: Phase out certain products to streamline offerings.
  • Strong Pipeline: Maintain investment in differentiated products that offer added value to customers.
• Production Network Optimization: Reassess the operational model, including the balance between procurement and manufacturing, as well as optimize the supply chain, to align with market realities.