Chief executive Jeanne Johns has stepped down after five years in the job, amid ongoing tensions over plans to split the company’s explosives and fertilisers divisions.
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The group said on Tuesday it had appointed chief financial officer Paul Victor as interim chief executive while its board searches for a permanent replacement for Ms Johns.
Chairman Brian Kruger said in a statement Ms Johns had left the company in a “very strong financial position” after leading Incitec through the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as reshaping the explosive major’s future through the sale of its Waggaman ammonia manufacturing plant in the US and cutting a long term urea supply deal in WA that will underpin its future business in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
But Incitec’s $552m in half-year earnings before interest and tax fell below analyst expectations – with the company’s strongest segment the Waggaman facility that has now been sold, and is expected to be handed over to new owners by the end of the year.
The company has also struggled to keep its manufacturing plants operating, with unreliability at Waggaman having long been a problem for Incitec.
But the major source of tension in recent years has been Incitec’s on-again off-again approach to demerging its fertiliser assets.
The company first floated plans to split its explosives and fertilisers business in 2019, but called off the idea in 2020 after a strategic review that considered options for the sale or demerger of the fertilisers business.
Incitec revived the idea in 2022 it wanted to spin off its fertiliser business into a separate listed company, arguing it would help realise the full market valuation of both sides of the company’s business.
But the plan proved unpopular with some of Incitec’s major shareholders, and has reportedly split the board after activist investor John Ho, the founder of Janchor Partners, was appointed as a director earlier this year.
Ms Johns, along with Mr Kruger, are said to have been staunch supporters of splitting the company, with other board members wavering on the plan.
Incitec shares last traded at $3.02.