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The board of French industrial group Schneider Electric has replaced its chief executive, citing disagreements about how to implement company strategy.
Schneider said on Monday that Peter Herweck would leave as chief with immediate effect after 18 months in the role, “following disagreements in the implementation of the company’s road map at a time of significant opportunities”.
The Paris-listed group said Olivier Blum, a longtime Schneider executive and member of the executive committee, would take over. Both internal and external candidates were considered for the role, the company said.
Chair Jean-Pascal Tricoire praised Blum’s knowledge of the business from his three decades at the company and the strong performance of the energy management division that he had been in charge of. “I have complete confidence in his ability to lead Schneider Electric in this new phase of targeted acceleration, in line with the ambitions shared during our capital market day,” said Tricoire.
Blum, a 54-year-old French national, has been a member of the executive committee since 2014. Before taking over management of Schneider’s biggest division, he had roles including group sustainability and human resources director, as well as operational roles leading India and five years in China.
Analysts at Kepler Chevereux wrote that they were “reassured” by the board’s “quick and . . . decisive action” and said the message was “extremely clear” that there would be no change in strategy from the one laid out at the group’s capital markets day in November last year. Schneider was also on track to hit its financial targets for the year. “The board will expect an acceleration in the realisation of organic and inorganic opportunities”, they wrote.
Investor reaction to the announcement was muted. Schneider Electric shares were down 0.7 per cent in early trading on Monday for a market value of €137.2bn. Its shares are up 33 per cent so far this year.
Schneider last November forecast organic revenue growth of between 7 and 10 per cent for the period from 2024 to 2027, as well as an organic expansion of its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, amortisation and depreciation margin of about 50 basis points.
Schneider said last year that it would focus on trends including artificial intelligence and climate change to drive growth. Last month, it agreed an $850mn deal for a controlling stake in Motivair, a specialist in cooling systems for high-performance computing, to reinforce its growing data centre offering.
Last week, it reported third-quarter organic sales growth of 8 per cent, above consensus estimates provided by the company, and confirmed its full-year outlook.
