Bilfinger’s Utnegaard to step down
21 April 2016
The chairman of the executive board of Bilfinger, Per Utnegaard, is to step down at the end of April for “personal reasons”.
He will resign as chairman and member of the executive board by mutual agreement, according to the company.
Bilfinger has said it has been in talks with Thomas Blades, a member of the executive board of gases and engineering company Linde, as well as other candidates, to replace Utnegaard as chairman of the executive board. It said a decision had not yet been taken.
Chief financial officer Axel Salzmann will assume the role of CEO on an interim basis in addition to his current functions.
Eckhard Cordes, chairman of the supervisory board, said, “Per Utnegaard led the group in a challenging phase. Together with the executive board team, Bilfinger was realigned with a strategy focusing on its core business. This strategic course will be continued, and Bilfinger will be put back on a path of profitable growth.”
Norwegian Utnegaard joined Bilfinger a year ago, and was previously president and CEO of ground handling company Swissport International.
Bilfinger said the outlook for the 2016 financial year issued on March 16 had now been confirmed. It said that in the 2015 financial year, Bilfinger had met or surpassed its expectations for all financial key figures. Liquidity had improved, the efficiency of structures had been enhanced and complexity had been reduced, it said.
The German engineering and services group successfully sold its water technologies division to Chinese-based Chengdu Techcent Environment Group recently as part of ongoing divestments.
