A statement released by Aryzta on Friday read: “as announced on March 13, Mr Owen Killian departs as CEO effective today. Mr Killian also retires from the board effective today”.

In February, it announced that Killian along with other senior management would resign at the end of the year.

The move came following a profit warning issued by the company in January.

The business behind the Cuisine de France brand at the time said that profits for the first five months of trading up until the end of December 2016 were 20% behind the same period last year

However, Killian’s exit was hastened in March when it was announced that he would the business at the end of that month.

The announcement came on the same day the group’s half-year results were down 31%.

Aryzta's chief financial officer Patrick McEniff and John Yamin, chief executive of the America region, have also left Aryzta.

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