Latest news with #AlbertManifold
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
BP Names CRH's Albert Manifold as New Chairman Amid Turnaround Push
BP (BP, Financials) said Monday it has appointed Albert Manifold as its next chairman, tapping the former CRH (CRH, Financials) chief to help navigate a strategic shift and rebuild shareholder trust following criticism of its renewables pivot. Manifold, who led CRH for 11 years and oversaw a fivefold increase in its share price, will replace Helge Lund in October. Though new to the energy sector, Manifold is seen as a capable turnaround executive with experience in portfolio restructuring and cost discipline. The move comes after BP backed away from aggressive renewables investments and faced pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which has taken a more than 5% stake and pushed for renewed focus on oil and gas, asset sales, and cost cuts. Senior Independent Director Amanda Blanc, who oversaw the chairman search, said Manifold was chosen for his strong track record in corporate transformation. JPMorgan analysts said the appointment is likely to be quietly welcomed, despite Manifold's lack of oil and gas credentials. BP shares edged up 0.6% Monday to 402 pence. The stock has fallen nearly 30% since 2019, when Lund took over as chairman. He had been expected to step down in 2026, but mounting investor dissatisfaction accelerated the timeline after his support dropped sharply in April's shareholder vote. The company is in the midst of a broader overhaul under CEO Murray Auchincloss, who took the helm in January 2024. Other candidates reportedly considered for the chairman role included Sam Laidlaw, former CEO of Centrica, and Ken MacKenzie, former chair of BHP (BHP, Financials). This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Albert Manifold, Irish cement veteran hired to chair BP for pivot back to oil and gas
BP has chosen a new chair who built his career not in oil, gas or the City of London, but in gravel, asphalt and cement. The appointment of Albert Manifold , a 26-year veteran of Dublin building materials company CRH , caught many investors and industry insiders by surprise when it was announced on Monday morning. 'It is an underwhelming appointment,' said one executive headhunter. The market reaction was also muted, with no meaningful move in BP's share price despite widespread investor frustration with outgoing chair Helge Lund. But people familiar with Manifold's record argue that behind his low-key persona is the drive, discipline and focus on shareholder returns that BP badly needs. One person who has competed against Manifold on deals described him as a 'shrewd operator' and a 'man on a mission'. READ MORE One of BP's most important investors, activist hedge fund Elliott Management, broadly welcomed the appointment, saying it noted Manifold's 'track record of delivering shareholder value' and that it looked forward to working with him to 'urgently address BP's shortcomings'. [ BP appoints Irishman Albert Manifold as new chairman Opens in new window ] After a failed foray into renewable electricity, the energy major in February pivoted back to focus on oil and gas but has not been rewarded by investors. BP's share price has fallen more than 8 per cent since it unveiled its new strategy, after oil prices slid in the second quarter. In more than a decade in charge of CRH, now the largest building materials supplier in the US, the 62-year-old Manifold overhauled its assets, pushed through transformational acquisitions and moved its primary listing from London to New York. Total shareholder returns during his tenure were 342 per cent, equivalent to an annualised 16.5 per cent, according to Josh Stone, an analyst at UBS. In 2023, Manifold was the third-highest-paid chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, one place above BP's former chief executive Bernard Looney. CRH stated this year that the value of his unvested stock options from 2020 to 2024 was more than $70 million. On Monday, as well as being appointed BP chair from October, he became an adviser to CD&R, the private investment firm where current BP chair Lund is also an adviser. Manifold's experience in boosting CRH's market valuation, especially in the US, was a huge draw for BP, whose share price peaked almost 20 years ago and has been trying to increase the number of American investors on its shareholder register. 'What we really need is somebody that leads the board, leads a strategy and basically somebody that can help in terms of the performance management of the business,' said one person involved in the hunt for the new chair. Manifold's low profile and lack of oil and gas experience was not an issue, the person added. 'A chair is not meant to be the high-profile person. The CEO is the leader of the business. If you look at the way he has delivered at CRH, he has done it in a quiet way. He has not had a public persona as such, but he has delivered incredibly strong performance, and the CRH shareholders were not disappointed.' Manifold, whose parents ran a hardware store in the Dublin suburb of Kimmage, lives in the nearby coastal town of Wicklow and was described by one of his friends as down-to-earth and highly driven. 'There were no corporate jets at CRH, no drivers. Once he needed to see his chair on a Friday night, it was pissing with rain and he just got in his car and drove the 200 miles to get there,' the person said, adding that Manifold had played rugby as a prop forward, as did Peter Sutherland, the last Irish chair of BP. Manifold won the top job at CRH in 2014, when the company was still feeling the effects of the slump in US residential construction following the financial crisis. His first act was a sweeping review of the company's business, according to one senior investment banker close to Manifold. He then pushed through a transformational acquisition, beating private equity firms Blackstone and Cinven to a €6.5 billion deal for a package of assets that EU competition regulators forced cement groups Holcim and Lafarge to sell off when they merged. 'He just knew everything that was going on with his rival bidders,' said one person involved in the process. 'His level of intelligence of the industry and within his PE rivals was excellent. He was always one step ahead of his rivals in the process. The level of connectivity he had gave him an edge.' That deal 'gave them good scale', the banker said, adding that CRH 'only had to do a €1.6 billion equity placement, which was very well supported. The shares performed well and it's gone on from there.' Manifold also brings green credentials. He was president of the industry organisation effort to try to decarbonise cement production and CRH has a target to cut its total carbon emissions by 30 per cent by 2030 from 2021 levels. In an interview with CNBC last year, he described how he had moved CRH up the value chain. 'We don't just provide rocks and cement,' he said. 'We take the rocks and make asphalt, we pave the roads with that asphalt. We maintain the roads and provide the off-ramps, on-ramps and bridge components. We don't just make one sell, we make six sells.' Although he does not have oil and gas experience, Manifold has not had to look far for advice on the BP job. Lamar McKay, the former head of BP's business in the US, is CRH's senior independent director. Bob Dudley, the former BP chief executive, sits alongside Manifold on the board of chemicals company LyondellBasell. Egon Zehnder, the headhunter that oversaw the search for BP's chair, also handled the chief executive succession process at CRH. BP remains under pressure after a turbulent few years and is struggling under heavy debts and from a lack of investor confidence in its strategy. Bloomberg this month described Manifold's new role in an opinion piece headline as 'a thankless job no one wants'. But his supporters back him to turn around the UK energy major. 'He'll want the company to do things that generate cash and give the sort of returns that he wants,' the banker said. 'That's what shareholders will reward.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Baptism of fire for new BP boss: Oil giant accused of 'panic appointments' as activist Elliott attacks 'chronic' failings
BP's new chairman faced warnings over the oil giant's 'chronic' failings last night – just hours after he was branded a 'panic appointment'. Albert Manifold, the former chief executive of building materials firm CRH, will join the BP board in September and take over as chairman in October – despite having never held the position elsewhere. The shake-up marked a humiliation for departing chairman Helge Lund, who in April said he would stand down – but not until 2026. It is a crucial time in BP's 124-year history as it abandons its disastrous push into green energy to refocus on oil and gas amid persistent speculation it could be taken over by arch-rival Shell. Hours after his appointment, Manifold, 62, was urged by major BP shareholder Elliott Investment Management to take 'decisive' action to revive its fortunes. The notorious US activist said: 'We note Albert Manifold's track record of delivering shareholder value at CRH and look forward to working with him to urgently address BP's shortcomings – particularly around its cost base, capital allocation, and poorly received turnaround plan.' The comments came after BP was forced to deny Manifold was a 'panic appointment', following reports industry heavyweights turned down the job. In a note to clients, analysts at Panmure Liberum said: 'We see little in his background that suggests he has the experience to deliver the major overhaul and turnaround of a major integrated oil and gas firm. 'Our initial take is that this is a panic appointment after industry heavyweights turned down the role. We doubt that Elliott will be appeased by this move and that the board will remain under pressure.' BP hit back, with a spokesman telling the Mail: 'Unsurprisingly, we disagree with that comment, an initial take that we feel misunderstands both the process and the appointment.' The chairmanship of BP – a top ten member of the FTSE 100 with a value of £63billion – is one of the biggest boardroom jobs in Britain. BP non-executive director Amanda Blanc, who is chief executive of Aviva and led the search for Lund's replacement, said Manifold's 'impressive track record of shareholder value creation at CRH demonstrates he is the ideal candidate to oversee BP's next chapter'. In his 11 years at the concrete and cement supplier from 2014 to 2024, shares rose nearly 400 per cent. He said: 'It is an honour to be appointed chair of one of the world's great energy companies, and to have the opportunity to help it reach its full potential.' His appointment sparked speculation BP could look at switching its main stock market listing to New York – just as CRH did under his leadership in 2023. Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the muted share price reaction – BP rose 0.3 per cent – showed 'investors aren't blown away by the choice' of Manifold. Mould added his appointment 'will stir speculation the energy group might switch its main stock listing to the US'.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Manifold problems at BP: New boss must restore confidence at board level and with investors, says MAGGIE PAGANO
BP investors are restless souls at the best of times, and for good reason. Now they are even more anxious following the surprise choice of Irishman Albert Manifold as the long-awaited chairman, a role they prayed would be filled with someone of enough stature to steer the oil giant back to being a fossil fuel company again. The muted response in BP shares certainly bore out their concern. Analysts were equally underwhelmed at the appointment, describing the move as panic after industry heavyweights turned the top job down. There are also worries that Manifold, unquestionably a brilliant chief executive of the Dublin-based construction materials group CRH Holdings, will be tempted to switch BP's listing to the US to get a higher valuation, as he did with CRH. Others say that he doesn't have any experience of the oil and gas sector, nor the skills required to be a chairman –rather than a chief executive – as the focus needs to be on accountability and governance rather than running operations. That's the case against Manifold. My own hunch is that the City has been far too swift to judge his experience so negatively. If Manifold's reputation is as formidable as his background suggests, the Dublin-trained accountant with an MBA and an MBS under his belt, could prove to be just the man to turn the tide at BP. In fact, the fast-talking, fiercely driven yet modest 62-year-old sounds rather a good egg, one who prefers to be out on the road meeting clients overseas rather than the high life like so many of his peers. Something that high-flying BP executives might want to watch out for. Manifold is credited with turning CRH from a small cement and other base-materials supplier into a fully-fledged billion pound construction giant. He joined CRH some 26 years ago, rising to become chief executive in 2014. Since then, Manifold totally reshaped CRH's portfolio, buying up assets from Lafarge and Holcim during their 2015 merger, snapping up the US-based Ash Grove Cement Company and at the same time divesting of non-core businesses. As CRH moved deeper into the US, he did the sensible thing, which was to list CRH in New York as well as keeping its FTSE 100 London listing. That was a smart move – CRH's share price has soared by almost 400 per cent with its market value shooting to $50billion. While it's true that Manifold's skills have been in operations, it's also evident from his achievements that he had a long-term vision and the nous to deliver that strategy. Turning tactics into strategy is just what BP needs after the misguided ambition of former chairman Helge Lund and ex-boss Bernard Looney, and the mad dash for renewables. Manifold takes the hot seat at a crucial time. BP has a mountain of debt, a mutinous investor in the activist US hedge fund Elliott and is in the middle of a $20billion fire-sale of non-core assets like wind farms and petrol stations. The company also had to deal with speculation of a Shell takeover, since denied. Yet despite BP's underperforming shares, it still has a decent dividend yield and the board is clearly working flat out to put its 'reset' strategy into operation. If BP can achieve this, and if it can get oil production up to 2.5m barrels of oil a day by the end of the decade, then Barclays reckon the shares could rise as high as £5.25. Most of us have BP shares via our pensions. So we should all hope that Manifold proves the City wrong, and that even a fraction of his magic rubs off. Before he gets going, he must focus on restoring confidence at board level as well as with long-suffering investors. German reboot Who would ever have imagined that Europe's great industrial powerhouse would have to launch a Made in Germany project to restore confidence? But that's what 61 of the country's leading companies are doing with their promise to spend €631million on new investments over the next three years. They hope to kick-start the economy, which is still looking bleak after two years of recession. What they don't say is how they will bring down the sky-high cost of energy which is one of their biggest problems. Sounds familiar.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Elliott urges new BP chair to tackle operational underperformance
(Reuters) -Elliott Investment Management, one of BP's largest shareholders, on Monday called on the energy giant's new chairman Albert Manifold to "urgently address BP's shortcomings". "Elliott believes the company requires decisive and effective leadership to overcome its chronic operational underperformance," a spokesperson for Elliott told Reuters in an emailed statement. BP has slashed planned renewables spending in a major strategy shift aimed at boosting earnings and investor confidence, while its falling share price has fuelled takeover and break-up speculation. Bloomberg News first reported Elliott's comments earlier on Monday.
