Appointment of Chief Executive

Invensys plc announces that Wayne Edmunds, who has been Chief Financial Officer of the Company since 2009, has been appointed Chief Executive with immediate effect.  Ulf Henriksson has today stepped down as Chief Executive and as a director of the Company.  David Thomas, who has held senior financial roles within the Group since 2002, has been appointed Acting Chief Financial Officer and a permanent appointment will be made in due course after consideration of internal and external candidates.

Sir Nigel Rudd, Chairman of Invensys plc, commented:

“I am delighted that Wayne has agreed to take on the role of Chief Executive to lead Invensys through the next stage of its development.  We have three world class businesses and a management team to match, and I am confident that Invensys is well positioned to continue to deliver value to shareholders.

“I would like to thank Ulf for his hard work and achievements which have delivered a transformation of Invensys.  We wish him well for the future.”

Trading update

Heck with finishing the trade show news early this afternoon. I've been following news from London that Invensys PLC chief executive officer Ulf Hendrickson has been fired and replaced by Chief Financial Officer Wayne Edmunds.

I'm not into gossip and only speculate upon that which I have some background knowledge. I'll readily admit that I have no clue what's been going on with the company in London. But I do hope to catch up with Invensys Operations Management next week to see how it has been doing two years into Sudipta Bhattacharya's term as CEO and how this change may or may not affect them.

I've copied a couple of paragraphs from various news sources in the UK:

Financial Times

Invensys has sacked its chief executive Ulf Henriksson whose approach to running the industrial group differed from that of chairman Sir Nigel Rudd.

The news unsettled investors, and came after Mr Henriksson had appeared to have made a good job of returning the previously crisis-ridden business to financial health.

The low-key Swede had been in charge since 2005. Sir Nigel and the board had decided he was the wrong person for the challenge of stewarding Invensys over the next few years.

Mr Henriksson’s replacement is Wayne Edmunds, chief financial officer.

And from Reuters

Shares in Invensys (ISYS.L) fall as much as 8 percent before recovering to trade down 3.75 percent after the British engineer ousts its chief executive Ulf Henriksson in a surprise move and installs finance director Wayne Edmunds in his place.

Henriksson suggested in November that China Southern Rail could buy a stake in the British company, forcing the group to issue a statement saying it was not in takeover talks.

Charles Stanley analyst Jeremy Batstone-Carr says that, aside from raising the possibility of a break-up, Henriksson did a reasonable job in restructuring the company.

And from the Guardian

Two of Britain's biggest engineering groups were in the takeover spotlight after this week's departures of their chief executives.

Analysts said the change at the top at car parts and aerospace group GKN, up 3.9p to 198p, could highlight its lowly rating compared to others in the sector, and attract possible predators. Meanwhile after the abrupt departure of Invensys boss Ulf Henriksson, analyst Harry Philips at Evolution Securities said his replacement - finance director Wayne Edmunds - was the driving force behind resolving its pension deficit, a key to any takeover.

And another Guardian article

Invensys tight-lipped after ditching chief executive. Engineering electronics company announces departure of Ulf Henriksson with immediate effect.

British engineering electronics group Invensys has stunned the City by ditching its chief executive, Ulf Henriksson, with immediate effect. The company announced that finance director Wayne Edmunds is taking over.

At one point shares plunged by 8% on the shock news, but later recovered some of their losses.

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