DuPont has appointed Ed Breen as chairman and chief executive officer, less than a month after he was named interim CEO following the resignation of Ellen Kullman under pressure from an activist shareholder.

Mr Breen, 59, joined the board of the chemical company in February. He's said he's looking to expand a $1.6 billion cost- savings program after the company cut its earnings forecasts last month.

An additional round of “surgical” cuts could take “a little bit of slop out of the system,” he said last month.

- Bloomberg