The surprise exit of Hein Schumacher comes less than two years after he took on the top role at the consumer-goods giant.

Schumacher defended his approach and record as CEO and said he regretted leaving Unilever earlier than anticipated.

Unilever surprised investors on Tuesday by ousting chief executive Hein Schumacher and replacing him with finance chief Fernando Fernandez, who will focus on speeding up the execution of the consumer group's turnaround strategy.