File photo of Gildan products.Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail
Gildan Activewear Inc. has lost its new chief financial officer just over a month after he was hired.
The Montreal-based low-cost manufacturer of blank T-shirts and branded apparel said on Tuesday that James Kehoe has resigned to return to Kraft Foods Group Inc.
Long-time Gildan CFO Laurence Sellyn, whose retirement from was announced in December, will take over until a replacement for Mr. Kehoe is found, the company said.
Gildan said the "opportunity at Kraft arose as a result of organizational changes announced by Kraft last week."
U.S. food giant Kraft unveiled a major management shakeup, two months after chairman John Cahill took over as chief executive officer from Tony Vernon.
"While the timing of this change is not ideal, the opportunity with Kraft is something I could not pass up given my extensive history with the company and its people," Mr. Kehoe said in a release Tuesday.
Kraft announced Mr. Kehoe as its new CFO on Tuesday.
Mr. Sellyn has been a key executive at Gildan for more than 15 years, working closely with president and CEO Glenn Chamandy.
Two weeks ago, Gildan said it lost $41.2-million (U.S.) or 34 cents per share in the fourth quarter, missing analysts' expectations. The loss compared to a profit of $41.7-million or 34 cents in the year-earlier period.
Excluding one-time items, the loss for the three months ended Jan. 4 was $37.6-million or 31 cents, compared with a profit of $43.3-million or 35 cents.
Sales fell 13.5 per cent to $390.6-million.
In December, Gildan announced price cuts in its printwear business to boost demand.
Bertrand Marotte