French NKT competitor continues its downturn: JPMorgan views CEO change as a surprise

The French NKT competitor Nexans is facing strong headwinds on the Paris stock exchange on Monday, after the cable manufacturer announced Julien Hueber as the new CEO earlier in the morning.

He replaces Christopher Guérin with immediate effect, Nexans stated in a press release, which has come as a surprise to the market, according to American bank JPMorgan.

The stock dropped by 7.9% to EUR 116.4, placing it at the bottom of the Stoxx 600 index.

On Friday, the stock fell by 3.1% when BNP Paribas Exane downgraded its recommendation for Nexans to ”underperform” from ”neutral.”

According to Bloomberg News, JPMorgan points out that Julien Hueber is a completely new face to the market, and the change comes very shortly after another major leadership shift, as Nexans announced at the end of July that Deputy CEO and CFO Jean-Christophe Juillard is also leaving the company.

Therefore, the change creates uncertainty, the brokerage assesses.

The background for the leadership change is that the board at Nexans aims to create new momentum and optimize the performance of the French company, it is stated.