Frank van Zanten

Frank van Zanten
Born	Frank Andre van Zanten February 1967
Nationality	Dutch
Education	MBA, Rotterdam School of Management
Occupation	Business executive
Company	Bunzl
Title	Chief Executive Officer, Bunzl

Frank Andre van Zanten (born February 1967) is a Dutch business executive who has been chief executive officer of Bunzl, the London-listed distribution and services group, since April 2016. He joined Bunzl in 1994, when the company bought his family-owned business in the Netherlands, and he is the first chief executive of the group to have been promoted from inside the company.

Van Zanten left the group in 2002 to become chief executive of PontMeyer NV, a listed Dutch builders' merchant, and returned in 2005 as managing director of the group's Continental Europe business area. Over the following decade that division's revenue grew from €450 million to €1.4 billion, and Bunzl's board cited this record when it chose him in January 2016 to succeed Michael Roney.

His tenure has followed the strategy Bunzl used before he took charge: growth through many small "bolt-on" acquisitions in fragmented markets, paid for out of the group's cash flow. Group revenue rose from £6.5 billion in 2015, the last full year before his appointment, to £11.8 billion in 2025. In 2024 the company committed a record £883 million to acquisitions, including the British catering equipment distributor Nisbets.

In April 2025 the company cut its profit guidance after a reorganisation of its largest North American business ran into trouble, and its shares fell by about a quarter in one day. Van Zanten and other executives bought shares in the following week. By the second half of 2026 the company reported that service levels in the North American business had been restored, and it raised its 2026 outlook. Outside Bunzl, van Zanten has sat on the supervisory board of the Dutch-Belgian food retailer Ahold Delhaize since April 2020. From 2013 to 2020 he was a non-executive director of the Irish builders' merchant Grafton Group.

Early life and education

Van Zanten is Dutch and was born in February 1967. He holds an MBA. Grafton Group's board biography listed the degree, and the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam describes him as one of its alumni. Little has been published about his upbringing or schooling. His family owned a business in the Netherlands, and he has described himself as having been a small entrepreneur before he joined Bunzl.

Career

Family business and early career (to 2002)

Van Zanten was general manager of his family's business in the Netherlands when Bunzl bought it in 1994. Van Zanten stayed on after the sale and took responsibility for a number of the group's businesses in other countries. A later interview about his years as an entrepreneur was published under his remark: "I know how family businesses feel - many realise they are vulnerable."

PontMeyer (2002 to 2005)

In 2002 van Zanten left Bunzl to become chief executive of PontMeyer NV, a listed Dutch builders' merchant. He stayed for about three years before going back to Bunzl in 2005.

Managing director, Continental Europe (2005 to 2016)

Van Zanten returned to Bunzl in 2005 as managing director of the Continental Europe business area. That was the year Michael Roney became the group's chief executive. Bunzl later reported that the division had grown "substantially" in size and profitability under him. Its revenue rose from €450 million in 2004 to €1.4 billion in 2014, a compound annual growth rate of 12 percent. Over the same period its adjusted operating profit rose from €30 million to €128 million, a compound annual growth rate of 16 percent.

While running the division he took his first outside board seat. Grafton Group, a FTSE 250 builders' merchant based in Dublin, appointed him a non-executive director on May 13, 2013.

Appointment as chief executive (2016)

On January 14, 2016, Bunzl announced that Roney would retire after more than 10 years as chief executive and that van Zanten, then 48, would succeed him. Van Zanten joined the board on February 1, 2016, and took over as chief executive after the annual general meeting on April 20, 2016. His service contract is dated January 13, 2016.

Chairman Philip Rogerson said a board sub-committee, working with an executive search firm, had looked at internal and external candidates. He said the nomination committee had recommended van Zanten unanimously, because his "extensive knowledge and experience of our business" would "provide continuity for the business as well as its customers and employees". In his own statement van Zanten said he looked forward to "continuing the ongoing implementation of this strategy with a view to delivering further profitable growth and long term shareholder value".

In a 2017 interview at Bunzl's London headquarters, van Zanten said the company's chief executives had until then always come from outside. "I'm the first CEO who worked up from the inside," he said, calling this "a good signal for the staff here. They see what is possible." The Rotterdam School of Management, where he studied, described his appointment as a source of "Dutch pride".

Early tenure (2016 to 2019)

In van Zanten's first year in charge, Bunzl committed £184 million to 14 acquisitions and raised its dividend per share by 11 percent, its 24th consecutive annual increase. Revenue for 2016 was £7.43 billion and adjusted operating profit was £525.0 million, compared with £6.49 billion and £455.0 million in 2015.

In 2017 the group committed what was then a record £616 million to acquisitions. Deals included Tecnopacking in Spain, a move into safety products in Italy through the purchase of Neri, and acquisitions in Singapore and China. Organic growth picked up to 4.3 percent that year and revenue reached £8.58 billion. After further acquisitions in Singapore, China and Norway over 2017 and 2018, Bunzl operated in 31 countries. Acquisition spending slowed to £183 million in 2018, while organic growth stayed at 4.3 percent and revenue rose to £9.08 billion. For 2019 the company described its results as "resilient" against "mixed macroeconomic and market conditions". Organic revenue was broadly stable and the operating margin edged up from 6.7 percent to 6.8 percent.

COVID-19 pandemic (2020 to 2021)

The COVID-19 pandemic sharply increased demand for products the group already distributed. Revenue from the group's eight largest pandemic-related lines (masks, sanitisers, gloves, disinfectants, coveralls, disposable wipes, face shields and eye protection) grew from about £830 million in 2019 to about £2.18 billion in 2020. Group revenue passed £10 billion for the first time, reaching £10.11 billion, and adjusted operating profit rose by 21 percent at constant exchange rates to £778.4 million. The company repaid employee-related government support it had received during the crisis and increased its charitable contributions. It also called 2020 the second most acquisitive year in its history, with £445 million committed to eight acquisitions. In 2020 Bunzl completed its 170th acquisition since 2004.

In 2021 revenue grew by 7.1 percent at constant exchange rates and the group committed £508 million to acquisitions. At a capital markets day on October 11, 2021, van Zanten's management team presented the business as a "consistent compounding strategy". It rested on organic growth, operating model improvements and acquisitions, with sustainability and digital tools as the main ways to set the company apart. At that point Bunzl had about 20,000 employees and around 150 operating companies in 31 countries. The company also joined the Race to Zero climate alliance that year and committed to net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, including Scope 3 emissions.

Record acquisitions and buybacks (2022 to 2024)

Revenue peaked at £12.04 billion in 2022, when inflation and acquisitions lifted adjusted operating profit by 11.1 percent and the operating margin rose from 7.3 percent to 7.4 percent. In 2022 Bunzl also raised its dividend for the 30th consecutive year. As pandemic-related sales returned to normal in 2023, revenue slipped to £11.80 billion, but the operating margin reached a record 8.0 percent. Leverage fell to 1.1 times net debt to EBITDA. That year the group passed £5 billion of committed acquisition spending since 2004.

With leverage well below the group's 2.0 to 2.5 times target, the board decided in 2024 to bring it back into that range by the end of 2027. It carried out an initial £250 million share buyback in the second half of 2024 and announced a further £200 million for 2025. Bunzl announced 13 acquisitions in nine countries in 2024, including its first entry into Finland through the Pamark Group and the purchase of Nisbets. The record committed spend of £883 million passed the 2017 high of £616 million. Van Zanten said 2024 had been "a year of significant strategic progress", with "strong adjusted operating profit growth" and a further rise in operating margin to 8.3 percent.

The year also included an early warning. On December 17, 2024, Bunzl said deflation that was "more persistent" than expected would have a "slight impact" on profit, and its shares fell 4.4 percent that morning. Van Zanten said 2024 would still be "another year of significant progress".

North America problems and 2025 profit warning

In his statement in the 2025 annual report, van Zanten set out what had gone wrong in the group's largest business, North America Distribution, which mainly serves grocery and foodservice customers. "We decided", he wrote, to replace that business's branch-based structure, in which more than 40 general managers each ran their own local operations, with a "sales and operations" model that separated the supply chain from sales. The change was largely in place by the start of 2024. It was meant to improve service and sales development, and it was linked to a push to sell more of Bunzl's own-brand products.

The company later acknowledged that the new model cost it "speed and agility" with local customers, mostly foodservice redistributors, and that it lost share of those customers' spending. On April 16, 2025, Bunzl said first-quarter profit had fallen below expectations. The operating model change had been "more challenging to execute than expected", and the business had also suffered slower volume growth, the loss of a product category at a grocery customer, and higher costs. The company cut its 2025 guidance, saying it now expected an operating margin "moderately below 8.0%". It also paused its share buyback after buying around £115 million of shares that year.

The shares fell by 26 percent to a four-year low. Writing for interactive investor, Graeme Evans said the slump "wrecked the company's reputation as a solid and dependable member of the FTSE 100". Analysts cut their profit forecasts by about 10 percent. Van Zanten said the company had already taken "decisive action", including leadership changes in North America to bring "a renewed focus on commercial agility and operational excellence". He added that his "confidence in the group's compounding growth strategy and resilient business model remains unchanged". Within a week he disclosed share purchases of about £1.1 million at prices near 2,335 pence. Chief financial officer Richard Howes and corporate development director Andrew Mooney also bought shares, and the three directors spent £1.4 million in total.

The recovery plan included new leadership in the local foodservice teams and cost savings from the second quarter. It also handed pricing and inventory decisions back to local teams and put more emphasis on relations with preferred suppliers. For 2025 as a whole, revenue grew by 3.0 percent at constant exchange rates to £11.85 billion. Adjusted operating profit fell by 4.3 percent to £910.3 million, and the operating margin dropped from 8.3 percent to 7.7 percent. The group still met the reduced guidance it had set in April. In his statement in the annual report, van Zanten wrote: "2025 was a year that stood out for many reasons. With economic headwinds and internal challenges, we're working hard to put the right measures in place." Chairman Peter Ventress wrote that the board "recognises that the Group's operational performance and share price development did not meet expectations".

Recovery (2026)

In a pre-close statement on June 23, 2026, Bunzl raised its 2026 guidance. Van Zanten said the North America Distribution business had "achieved the good operational progress we had expected, with the business' responsiveness, agility and high service levels largely restored". The statement also reported that in April Bunzl had completed the acquisition of Scientifix Group, an Australian distributor to the life sciences and biotechnology sectors.

Half-year results on September 1, 2026, showed revenue up 2.9 percent at constant exchange rates to £5.93 billion. Adjusted operating profit rose 8.0 percent to £440.6 million and the operating margin improved from 7.0 percent to 7.3 percent. Underlying revenue had now grown for five consecutive quarters. The company announced a new £500 million share buyback to run over the next 12 months. In a trading statement on October 20, 2026, Bunzl repeated its full-year guidance. It reported third-quarter underlying revenue growth of 3.7 percent and said it had completed about £225 million of the buyback and bought the British care home supplier Blueleaf Care. Van Zanten said the company expected 2026 "to be a foundation for future profit growth".

Leadership and management style

Van Zanten has stuck closely to the group's long-standing model. The group is a collection of locally run businesses supported by central purchasing scale, and it grows mainly through small acquisitions funded from its own cash flow. When he was appointed, the board said he had a "successful track record of implementing the Company's long-standing strategy for developing and expanding the Group both organically and by acquisition". At the 2021 capital markets day his team described a "strong locally-led business model leveraging the benefits of global scale". It said that during the pandemic "it was the local leaders who created 'followership' from their people".

The North American reorganisation was the main exception to that local model, and the company's account of it reads as a partial reversal. The 2025 annual report described the recovery as "a re-empowerment of our local teams through greater control on pricing and inventory management", and listed "more motivated teams" among the results.

Van Zanten has paid steady attention to own-brand products and digital ordering. The board's 2025 assessment of his personal objectives recorded that own-brand products rose from 28 percent to 30 percent of group revenue. Digital transactions reached 76 percent across the group, and artificial intelligence pilots were running in every region. The board had also asked him to strengthen the group's pipeline of senior leaders and succession planning. In the 2024 results van Zanten put the share of orders processed digitally at 75 percent.

Major deals and strategic decisions

• 2016 to 2019: Steady bolt-on buying, including 14 acquisitions in 2016 and a then-record £616 million committed in 2017, with deals in Spain, Italy, Singapore and China. Expansion into Norway brought the group to 31 countries by 2018.
• 2020: £445 million committed to eight acquisitions during the pandemic, the second most acquisitive year in the group's history. The company repaid employee-related government support.
• 2021: £508 million committed to acquisitions; the group joined Race to Zero and set a net zero target for 2050 at the latest.
• 2022 to 2025: Disposal of four lower-margin businesses with combined annual revenue of about £250 million, including the business in Argentina in 2024 and the US R3 Safety wholesale business in January 2025.
• 2024: A record £883 million committed to 13 acquisitions, among them Nisbets, which had revenue of £498 million in 2023, and Pamark in Finland. Bunzl also carried out an initial £250 million share buyback and committed to put about £700 million a year towards acquisitions or capital returns in each of the three years to 2027.
• 2024 to 2025: The North America Distribution operating model change, followed by the April 2025 guidance cut, the pause of the buyback and a programme of corrective actions.
• 2025: Eight acquisitions in seven countries, committed spend of £132 million, entry into healthcare in Chile and a physical presence in Slovakia.
• 2026: Acquisitions of Scientifix in Australia and Blueleaf Care in the United Kingdom, and a £500 million buyback.

Financial and market performance

The table below shows the company's reported revenue and adjusted operating profit for the last full year before van Zanten took over and for each year of his tenure for which the company's own results were retrieved.

Year	Revenue	Adjusted operating profit	Source
2015	£6,489.7 million	£455.0 million
2016	£7,429.1 million	£525.0 million
2017	£8,580.9 million	£589.3 million
2018	£9,079.4 million	£614.0 million
2019	£9,326.7 million	£653.3 million
2020	£10,111.1 million	£778.4 million
2022	£12,039.5 million	£885.9 million
2023	£11,797.1 million	£944.2 million
2024	£11,776.4 million	£976.1 million
2025	£11,845.4 million	£910.3 million

Over the five years to 2024, the company reported that adjusted earnings per share had risen 54 percent at constant exchange rates, on revenue growth of 30 percent and an operating margin that expanded from 6.9 percent to 8.3 percent. In that period it committed £2.6 billion to acquisitions and returned £1.2 billion to shareholders. The dividend continued to rise every year of his tenure. The 2025 total of 74.1 pence was the group's 33rd consecutive annual increase, though the 0.3 percent rise was much smaller than in earlier years.

In 2025 the group had an average of 26,672 employees in 33 countries. North America accounted for 53 percent of revenue, Continental Europe 21 percent, the UK and Ireland 16 percent and the rest of the world 10 percent. The April 2025 warning pushed the shares to a four-year low. At the end of 2025 the closing mid-market share price was 2,076 pence.

Remuneration

The company's single total figure of remuneration for van Zanten was £1.49 million for the part of 2016 after he became chief executive. It was £2.81 million in 2017, £3.49 million in 2020 and £4.23 million in 2021, and peaked at £6.31 million in 2023, a figure that included two long-term incentive awards vesting in the same reporting year. It was £4.54 million in 2024 and £3.09 million in 2025. His 2025 bonus paid out at 35 percent of the maximum, compared with 98 percent for 2024, reflecting the fall in profit. Van Zanten's salary was £1,055,547 in 2025 and rose 2.5 percent to £1,082,000 for 2026. His benefits as chief executive include an education allowance, a hybrid working allowance covering ad hoc home, secretarial support and security costs, a car and IT allowance and family medical costs.

As of December 31, 2025, van Zanten owned 365,013 shares in the company outright, including 165,185 held by connected persons. His qualifying shareholding was worth 808 percent of salary, against the company's requirement of 350 percent.

Board memberships and outside roles

• Grafton Group plc: Non-executive director from May 13, 2013, to 2020, serving on board committees.
• Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V.: Member of the supervisory board since April 8, 2020, sitting on its governance and nomination committee and its remuneration committee. The 2025 annual report confirms that van Zanten held this role during 2025.

Controversies

The main criticism of van Zanten's tenure has concerned the North American reorganisation and the April 2025 profit warning. The company itself attributed the problems to "execution issues in our largest business in North America, following a large organisational change", made worse by a weak economy. Commentary at the time said the 26 percent share price fall had damaged the company's reputation for dependability. The board's remuneration committee cut van Zanten's bonus for 2025 to 35 percent of the maximum.

Personal life

Companies House lists van Zanten as resident in the Netherlands, although the company's headquarters is in London. His remuneration package includes a hybrid working allowance, and when he became chief executive in 2016 it included an international relocation package with accommodation support.

See also

• Bunzl
• Michael Roney
• Ahold Delhaize
• Grafton Group

External links

• Bunzl plc official website
• Bunzl leadership page
• Ahold Delhaize supervisory board biography