What They Say
We don’t often report personnel changes, but we noted that Barco’s CEO of the last five years, Jan de Witte, has resigned and that he will be replaced by co-CEOs Charles Beauduin and An Steegen, Beaudin is also Chairman.
At the same time, Barco reported its first half result. Orders were up from the first half of 2020 by 17% and 34% up on the second half of the year. Sales were 10% below the first half of 2020. Orders were up 63% on Q2 2020 at €236.6 million and sales were €194.3 million, up 13%.
Barco said that the lower result of sales to orders was partly due to pandemic restrictions (Entertainment and Enterprise) and, to a lesser extent, component shortages (Entertainment and Healthcare).
What We Think
Hmmm, I thought that having a Chairman as a CEO was frowned upon in terms of corporate governance. I’m also personally somewhat sceptical of co-CEOs, which often seems to lead to competition for the top spot – not necessarily the ideal. I’m not sure I’d take on a co-CEOship with an executive who was also Chairman of the Board. (but, then again, nobody has offered me a CEO-ship for a while!) (BR)
