Ellen Kullman abrupt resignation as chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont Co., stepping down as an activist shareholder appeared ready to reignite a battle to break up the 213-year-old company.
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The DuPont Co. on Monday announced that CEO and Chairwoman Ellen Kullman, who earlier this year fought off a bruising challenge from a major activist investor, will retire at the end of next week. Replacing her will be member of the board of directors, Edward Breen, who will take over as interim chair and CEO.
In a statement, Kullman thanked her team for work that she says has streamlined the company and encouraged innovation. DuPont’s research strength was a key component of Kullman’s argument against Peltz’s carve-up plan.
Shares of the company, down 27% this year, rose 4% to $53.51 in after-hours trading.
She said at the time that she wasn’t done and that the company had more work to do.
The lower guidance is mainly due to the strengthening of the USA dollar versus currencies in emerging markets, particularly the Brazilian real, and a further weakening of agricultural markets, primarily in Brazil, DuPont said. Looking ahead, we will continue to drive productivity, and we plan to conduct a deep dive into the details of our cost structure and allocation of capital to ensure we deliver appropriate returns for shareholders. In July, it cut its full-year outlook to $3.10 per share from $4. The consensus estimate is for EPS of $3.19. Farmers in the country became cautious in their spending because of tighter profit margins and credit. Du Pont is also targeting about $1.6B in savings on a run rate basis by the end of 2017.
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DuPont now expects 72 cents of negative impact per share this year from currency headwinds. Executives said on Monday that the company would increase the pace of cost cuts, adding during a conference call that R&D budgets also may face the knife.
