The provider of EV charging points said chief executive officer Eric Fairbairn is leaving with immediate effect, with Andy Palmer, currently a senior independent director, to become interim CEO. At the same time, the company is looking for a permanent replacement.
Pod Point chair Gareth Davis said: “Since our stock market listing, Pod Point has navigated challenging industry headwinds. Given these challenges, the board feels that new leadership is required to execute the existing strategy and to take advantage of future growth opportunities.”
Palmer highlighted the growing need for EV charging infrastructure as the market transitions to zero-emission cars, which provides opportunities for Pod Point.
He said: “This transition creates significant opportunities for Pod Point in both commercial and domestic demand for charging points and related recurring revenue through, for example, grid load management.
“I look forward to working more closely with the highly skilled and entrepreneurial team at Pod Point to convert these opportunities into top-line revenues and improve profitability.”
The company said a plan of action to deal with the challenging market conditions and position the company for long-term profitability would be detailed in the interim results statement due on July 31.
Pod Point said Karen Myers will succeed Palmer as a senior independent director on an interim basis.
The founder of Pod Point has stepped down as chief executive with immediate effect as shares in the electric vehicle charging point provider struggle well below its 2021 listing price.
Erik Fairbairn, who started the group in 2009, will be replaced on an interim basis by Andy Palmer, a former Aston Martin chief executive who is Pod Point’s senior independent director.
Gareth Davis, the company’s chairman, said: “Since our stock market listing, Pod Point has navigated challenging industry headwinds. Given these challenges, the board feels that new leadership is required to execute the existing strategy and to take advantage of future growth opportunities.”
Senior Independent Director Andy Palmer has been appointed interim CEO “to enhance operational performance and deliver sustained shareholder value for the group.”
Pod Point also said Karen Myers will succeed Palmer as a senior independent director interim.
Fairbairn will be available to the board and the interim CEO until the end of his contractual term.
Chair Gareth Davis said: “Since our stock market listing, Pod Point has navigated challenging industry headwinds. Given these challenges, the board feels that new leadership is required to execute the existing strategy and take advantage of future growth opportunities.
“The board is confident that Andy’s combination of proven industry experience and deep knowledge of vehicle electrification will enable Pod Point to realise its full potential. He will build on the pioneering spirit of Erik, who founded the company and foresaw future demand for charging solutions.”
Pod Point will announce first-half results on July 31.
The company said that Palmer would also outline actions to address challenging market conditions and position Pod Point for long-term profitability.
In February, the company reported a 16% rise in revenue to GBP71.4 million in 2022 from GBP61.4 million a year earlier.
Pretax loss, however, widened to GBP19.9 million from GBP14.3 million, as adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation widened to GBP12.3 million from GBP8.1 million a year earlier. The company said the loss was anticipated due to its continued investment in growth.
Aston Martin has scheduled its third chief executive in three years, with Tobias Moers walking down after only two years in charge.
Moers will leave the panel of the British carmaker with the immediate results but will stay until the end of July to “bear the leadership team with an even transition”, Aston Martin Lagonda report.
The former Ferrari boss Amedeo Felisa will return him as chief support.
Felisa joined Aston Martin’s Timber as a non-executive manager in July 2021.
Aston Martin, known as the maker of pastime cars used in the James Bond film Warrant, has gone down through many turbulent periods in its 109-year history. Its latest difficulty began with a stock market listing 2018 that briskly went sour as high listing costs obliged it to look for new finance.
The fashion billionaire Lawrence Stroll walked in to bail out the company in early 2020, forcing the erstwhile Nissan chief work officer Andy Palmer and plunder Moers from Daimler’s high-performance unit, Mercedes-AMG, to take over.
Moers has overseen a period of cut by Aston Martin, as it sought to lessen the number of cars port with dealers – which Stroll saw as a critical step to restore a component of exclusivity to the brand even as it attempted to increase sales to 10,000 a year.
However, the financial outcome for the first three months of 2022 showed the company resumed struggling. Losses before tax for the quarter nearly tripled to £112m. It made an income of £232m and proposed a long way to go to hit its prey of £2bn annually.
As chief executive, Felisa, who led the Italian creator of the sports cars Ferrari for eight years, will oversee Aston Martin’s range’s electrification, reorganise the company’s structure, and make meetings in the coming weeks. Among those is Roberto Fedeli, another erstwhile Ferrari executive reported as Aston Martin’s chief technical officer on Wednesday.
