February 8, 2012
General News

Vestas directors quit after losses at wind turbine firm

BBC News, www.bbc.co.uk 8 February 2012

The finance chief of Vestas, the world’s largest maker of wind turbines, has quit and other directors will not be seeking re-election to the board.

The upheaval came after Vestas reported a loss about four times greater than analysts had expected.

Chief financial officer Henrik Norremark resigned on Tuesday.

Chairman Bent Erik Carlsen, deputy chairman Torsten Erik Rasmussen, and director Freddy Frandsen will not stand for re-election, said a statement.

Vestas made a loss last year of 166m euros (£138m; $220m), compared with a 156m-euro profit a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a loss of about 40.3m euros, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Shares in Vestas, which had lost two-thirds of their value in the last 12 months, fell another 13.3% on Wednesday.

The company has been losing market share to competitors. Last month, it announced 2,335 job cuts.

Mr Carlsen said in a television interview on Wednesday that investors wanted change.