ZURICH (Reuters) - Nestle shares were indicated slightly higher on Wednesday after the Swiss food giant announced Chairman Paul Bulcke would hand over earlier than expected to former Inditex CEO Pablo Isla.

The company's shares, which have lost nearly 18% in the last 12 months, were indicated to open nearly 1% higher on the Zurich exchange.

The announcement of Bulcke's departure late on Tuesday accelerated the leadership changes at Nestle, the maker of KitKat chocolate bars and Nescafe instant coffee, which has seen an unprecedented period of management turmoil.

"Nestle needs to return to calmer waters and regain its former stature," said Bank Vontobel analyst Jean-Philippe Bertschy, citing years of sluggish growth, leadership missteps, weak communication, corporate governance concerns and management turbulence.

"Yet, this also creates an opportunity to accelerate growth and tackle underperforming units more effectively. Further change is likely; the organization is poised for a significant shake-up," he added.

Bulcke's decision comes just two weeks after Laurent Freixe was fired as CEO over an undisclosed relationship, and clears the way for new CEO Philipp Navratil and Isla to take full charge of the world's biggest packaged food maker that has struggled in recent years as sales growth stalled and debt rose.