Markus Tacke bows out as Siemens Gamesa CEO, FY outlook is grim

Markus Tacke on Wednesday stepped down as CEO of Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA (BME:SGRE) as the wind turbine maker faces grim prospects for the rest of its fiscal year.

The head of offshore wind, Andreas Nauen, will take his place as CEO effective immediately.

Siemens Gamesa said the board of directors and Tacke had come to a mutual agreement to terminate his CEO contract.

"We’d like to thank Markus Tacke for his work over the past three years and, in particular, for the integration of Siemens Wind Power and Gamesa in the course of the merger," board chairman Miguel Angel Lopez said in a statement.

Nauen’s successor for the top post in the offshore wind division will be announced in due course, Siemens Gamesa added.

At the same time, the company provided a bleak outlook for the third quarter, saying it is looking at negative earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) pre-purchase price allocation (PPA) and integration and restructuring (I&R) costs due to the financial impact of the COVID-19 disruptions and project costs. It expects to book positive a EBIT in the fourth quarter, but estimates this will not be enough to completely turn around the negative development for the full fiscal year.

The turbine maker started the fiscal year with one-off charges of around EUR 150 million (USD 168.5m) in the first quarter, which stemmed from adverse weather and site conditions and a derailed installation window in Northern Europe, cratering the results. The net loss of EUR 174 million it then recorded forced it to lower the guidance for its fiscal year ending September 2020.

Later in April, Siemens Gamesa withdrew the guidance due to the unquantifiable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also sank the second-quarter results.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.123)

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