UPDATE: P&G confirms the appointment of new CEO

Following major changes to its business, it looks like more changes are set to take place this year at Procter & Gamble.UPDATE: P&G has confirmed that its current CEO A.G. Lafley is to be replaced current group president David Taylor (pictured). Taylor has been group president of global beauty and grooming since 2013 and earlier this year, also took on the healthcare category. Taylor has been with the company since 1980. He has worked in Asia markets such as Hong Kong and Greater China.Taylor will take on the role November onwards while Lafley will become Procter & Gamble’s executive chairman. In this role, Lafley will lead the board of directors, and provide advice and counsel to the CEO and P&G leadership on Company and business strategies, portfolio choices, and organisation decisions.Meanwhile, Lafley took on the role on May 23 2013 as CEO. He has also served as P&G’s president & CEO from 2000 to 2009. During this time, the company more than doubled sales and grew its portfolio of billion-dollar brands from 10 to 23 with a focus on consumer-driven innovation and consistent, reliable, sustainable growth. Marketing has reached out to P&G for a statement. A CNBC article has said that Lafley will remain as chairman to help with the transition.The decision to shuffle the company’s top management comes hot on the heels of P&G selling more than 40 of its beauty brands to Coty Inc for US$12.5 billion. This comes as the company looks to leverage and nurture its faster-growing brands such as Tide and Gillette.P&G also earlier announced that its Duracell battery business will be spun off as a separate brand as the company zooms in on its faster growing brands. This comes as part of a massive streamlining exercise which P&G first announced in August last year. P&G had then said that the company will sell, discontinue, merge or eliminate up to 100 brands in the next two years as part of a cost-cutting exercise – focusing on its top 70 to 80 brands.