Ørsted has taken some heavy blows in recent years. Almost two years ago, everything looked good for the company. The share price was at a record high and there were high expectations, among other things, for the company's growth opportunities in the American market.
Since then, however, despite sanctions against Russian energy and increased ambitions for offshore wind, Ørsted has only gone one way. The industry has been hit by increased costs for both materials and financing, and this has led to Ørsted having to make major write-downs on projects in the United States, where, among other things, the two projects Ocean Wind 1 and 2 were dropped completely. This has led to a share price that has fallen by more than 50 percent this year alone and is back to the level from five years ago.
The crisis is now causing Ørsted to make changes in management. The energy company is thus saying goodbye to two members of the group management in the form of Group CFO Daniel Lerup and Group COO Richard Hunter. According to Ørsted, the termination was by mutual agreement, the energy company said in a statement.
- Like the rest of the industry, Ørsted is experiencing challenging and unstable market conditions. Therefore, the board of directors and I have agreed with our current Group CFO and Group COO that we need new and different competencies to lead the finance and EPC & Operations functions to support Ørsted's further journey, says Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, he continues:
- I would like to thank both Daniel Lerup and Richard Hunter for their efforts for Ørsted. I have appreciated working with both of them in recent years and wish them all the best in the future.
Board member and executive vice president fill in
Ørsted has initiated a process to find a new Group CFO and a new Group COO and expects the process to be completed as soon as possible in 2024.
In the meantime, current executive vice president and regional director for Europe, Rasmus Errboe, will temporarily serve as Group CFO and member of the Executive Board. Errboe's work as regional director will be covered by Olivia Breese, who will cover this task in addition to her current role as senior vice president and director of Power-to-X at Ørsted.
The position of Group COO will be filled by Andrew Brown, who joined Ørsted's board at the last general meeting. He has experience from senior positions in large global organizations such as Shell and most recently as CEO of the Portuguese energy company Galp.
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