FLSmidth falls over 3% after CEO departure, Capital Markets Day delay

Investing.com -- Shares of FLSmidth & Co. A/S (CSE:FLS) fell more than 3% on Monday after the Denmark-based engineering group said CEO Mikko Keto will leave the company for an executive role at a non-competing firm and postponed its March 2026 Capital Markets Day.

FLSmidth said Keto is expected to depart during the first half of 2026. The company has begun the search for his successor. 

Analysts at Jefferies described the announcement as “unexpected” and said the timing is “both a disappointment and a frustration for the market,” noting that the development comes at the end of a four-year strategy that Keto introduced shortly after joining the company in 2021. That plan included expanding the mining business and divesting the cement division.

Jefferies said FLSmidth has pushed back its March 11 2026 Capital Markets Day to later in the year so a new CEO can help shape the event. 

The brokerage had viewed the original date as a potential catalyst because it was expected to include new margin targets and details on the company’s growth strategy. The postponement means those updates will now follow a later timetable.

Keto joined the company in 2021 from Metso as president of the mining division. He became CEO in 2022 after former chief executive Thomas Schulz left for Bilfinger. 

Analysts at Jefferies said FLSmidth’s previous leadership appointments included Schulz, who joined directly from Sandvik, and earlier CEO Jørgen Rasmussen, also an external hire.

The composition of the current executive team, which includes Chief Financial Officer Roland Andersen, who has been with the group since 2020. 

The president of the PC&V business has been at FLSmidth since 1982, while the presidents of the service and product lines joined earlier this year.

Jefferies said Keto’s departure follows the completion of the company’s multi-year shift toward mining, a transition the CEO had overseen after arriving from the mining equipment industry. 

The realignment involved scaling up the mining division and executing the divestment of the cement operations, a move the report described as part of the strategy plan implemented over the past four years.

The brokerage said the postponement of the Capital Markets Day reflects the company’s intention to give the incoming CEO time to influence future strategic disclosures. 

Jefferies flagged that the rescheduled event is now expected later in 2026, though FLSmidth has not provided a specific date.