Fortescue's New Metals CFO Exits Just Days After CEO — 2nd Update

By Rhiannon Hoyle

The chief financial officer of Fortescue Metals Group's lucrative mining business has departed after only two months and just days after the division's chief executive abruptly left the company.

Australia's Fortescue said late Thursday the company's finance and tax manager, Apple Paget, has been appointed acting chief financial officer for the metals unit at the company, the world's fourth-largest producer of steel ingredient iron ore. It didn't give a reason for the departure of Christine Morris, who only took up the role in July.

On Monday, Fortescue said the CEO of the metals business, Fiona Hick, had stepped down and been succeeded by the chief operating officer of its iron-ore mining operations, Dino Otranto. Hick had only been in the role since February.

Guy Debelle, a former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, also left the board of Fortescue Future Industries, part of its energy unit, on Thursday, a spokeswoman said. On Friday, he was named as a non-executive director of Australia-listed critical-minerals company Tivan. Debelle couldn't be reached for comment.

The high-profile exits follow the departure of a number of other senior leaders in recent years, raising concerns among analysts. Fortescue's shares fell 5.3% in Sydney on Friday.

Citi analyst Paul McTaggart earlier this week said the market would be unsettled by the frequent changes within the top ranks at the roughly $43 billion company. "Management changes look messy," he said.

Fortescue, founded and chaired by billionaire Andrew Forrest, has restructured its business to have executives that report to the board for both its metals business, dominated by the giant iron-ore operations that generate its income, and an energy business, via which the company wants to aggressively invest in clean-energy projects.

Fortescue is targeting five final investment decisions on clean-energy projects by the end of 2023 and on Monday said it will no longer only allocate 10% of profits to fund its clean-energy arm.

Going forward, all investments pursued by the energy unit will compete equally with mining and metals investments for funding, the company said.

While the company said Hick's departure was "both friendly and mutual," Forrest, in a presentation on Wednesday, signaled some potential conflict within the company regarding the direction and approach to clean energy.

"There's been changes, and there's been a steely discipline about our future," Forrest said. When the group decides "on a future, we stick to that future. Individual ambitions become second."

In an earlier emailed statement, Hick said she looks "forward to time with family and friends while I consider my next move." Morris couldn't be reached for comment.

Fortscue this week said it made a net profit of $4.80 billion in the 12 months through June, down from $6.20 billion the previous year. The bottom line was weighed by a noncash impairment against a mining project, while earnings were eroded by higher operating costs and weaker iron-ore prices.

Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 01, 2023 05:12 ET (09:12 GMT)

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