Smith & Nephew (LON: SN.), the FTSE 100 medical technology group that makes orthopaedics and wound care products, saw its shares fall as much as 4% today after chief financial officer John Rogers resigned with immediate effect from the board.
The shares were last trading at 1065.5p, down 4.05% from Tuesday’s close of 1110.5p, having fallen as low as 1058.5p in early trade. That puts the stock near the bottom of its 52-week range of 1050p to 1408.18p.
Smith & Nephew said in a stock exchange announcement published at 7am today that Rogers will leave the CFO role on 30 September to take up an external position in the US, stepping down from the board with immediate effect. Pierre Palassian, the company’s SVP Finance and Group Controller since 2017 and a former finance executive at Abbott Laboratories and AbbVie, has been named interim CFO while a search for a permanent successor gets under way. The company confirmed Rogers will receive no severance payment, with his outstanding share awards lapsing under standard “ordinary leaver” plan rules.
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Rogers had held the CFO post for roughly three years, a period in which chief executive Deepak Nath credited him with helping deliver the company’s “12-Point Plan” turnaround and develop its RISE growth strategy. “I would like to thank John for his many contributions over the last three years as we’ve delivered the 12-Point Plan, improved our financial performance and developed the RISE strategy. He has been a valued colleague and a highly regarded member of our Executive Committee,” Nath said. The abrupt, unexplained nature of the exit, with no permanent replacement lined up, is the kind of leadership discontinuity that markets tend to punish when a company is still mid-turnaround.
The announcement landed before the London market opened, and the shares moved lower from the first minutes of trading on volume well above recent sessions, indicating the fall reflects a direct reaction to the resignation rather than any change in underlying trading.
