Reckitt CEO departure makes it 17 FTSE 100 bosses in 2022 that have announced plans to leave

Total of 17 changes announced in the top job for FTSE 100 firms in 2022 have been announced so far.

Reckitt share price dropped followed the departure of Laxman Narasimhan.

Despite slew of announcements, actual changes to have taken place in 2022 below average seen between 2000-2021

AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould comments: “Investors in Reckitt Benckiser are clearly disappointed by the unexpected – and very rapid – departure of chief executive officer Laxman Narasimhan, judging by the share price slide in early trading. Mr Narasimhan cites the opportunity to take up a post in the USA after just three years in the role and the news means that FTSE 100 firms have announced 17 changes at the very top so far in 2022. Seven have already become effective, two more are due before the year end and seven more will take place in 2023, meanwhile there is no timeline available yet for the appointment of someone to take over from the retiring John Foley at M&G.

Announced and already effective in 2022
	Company	In	Out
1	Johnson Matthey*	Liam Condon	Robert MacLeod	01-Mar-22
2	Prudential	Mark FitzPatrick (interim)	Mike Wells	31-Mar-22
3	Burberry	Jonathan Akeroyd	Marco Gobbetti	01-Apr-22
4	Smith & Nephew	Deepak Nath	Roland Diggelmann	01-Apr-22
5	Anglo American	Duncan Wanblad	Mark Cutifani	19-Apr-22
6	Taylor Wimpey	Jennie Daly	Pete Redfern	26-Apr-22
7	JD Sports Fashion	Kath Smith (interim)	Peter Cowgill	26-May-22
Announced and due to come into effect in 2022
8	Reckitt Benckiser	Nicandro Durante (interim)	Laxman Narasimhan	30-Sep-22
9	JD Sports Fashion	Regis Schultz	Kath Smith (interim)	Q4 2022
Announced but only effective in 2023
11	Rolls-Royce	Tufan Erginbilgic	Warren East	01-Jan-23
12	Prudential	Anil Wadhwani	Mark FitzPatrick (interim)	Feb-23
13	Rightmove	TBC	Peter Brooks-Johnson	Feb-23
14	Whitbread	Dominic Paul	Alison Brittain	Mar-23
15	B&M European Value Retail	Alex Russo	Simon Arora	Apr-23
16	United Utilities	Louise Beardmore	Steve Mogford	End-2023
17	Halma	Marc Ronchetti	Andrew Williams	01-Apr-23
Announced but no firm timeline
10	M&G	TBC	John Foley	TBC

Source: Company accounts, Regulatory News Service (RNS). *Announced before Johnson Matthey fell out of the FTSE 100.

“Reckitt’s shares have not done that much during Mr. Narasimhan’s brief tenure – before today they were up 4% against a 1% gain in the FTSE 100 since 1 September 2019. However, investors had warmed to his efforts to re-establish positive momentum at the company after the ultimately failed $18 billion acquisition of Mead Johnson, legal and reputational fall-out over a humidifier disinfectant sold in South Korea and a high-profile cyber-attack, all of which bedevilled the firm during the latter stages of Rakesh Kapoor’s eight-year stint as CEO.

“Mr. Narasimhan’s motive for his departure – the prospect of a US-based post – is the same as that cited by Smith & Nephew’s Namal Nawana when he jumped ship after barely a year and a half in 2019.

“By the time of his departure at the end of month, Mr. Narasimhan will have completed just over three years in office, well below the 5.8-year average across the FTSE 100, and he is currently the sixty-seventh longest serving boss in the index.

Longest-serving FTSE 100 CEOs
	Company	CEO	Started	Years
1	Next	Simon Wolfson	May-2001	21.4
2	Dechra Pharmaceuticals	Ian Page	Nov-2001	20.9
3	Ocado	Tim Steiner	Jan-2002	20.7
4	B & M European Value Retail	Simon Arora	Jan-2005	17.7
5	Halma	Andrew Williams	Feb-2005	17.5
6	Associated British Foods	George Weston	Apr-2005	17.4
7	Berkeley	Rob Perrins	Sep-2009	13.0
8	RELX	Erik Engstrom	Nov-2009	12.8
9	DS Smith	Miles Roberts	May-2010	12.3
10	United Utilities	Steve Mogford	Mar-2011	11.5

Source: Company accounts, Regulatory News Service (RNS)

“Three of the ten-longest serving CEOs are due to step down in 2023 – B&M European Value Retail’s Simon Arora, United Utilities’ Steve Mogford and Halma’s Andrew Williams – but overall, the number of changes that have happened in 2022 or been announced for 2023 are below the long run average of 12 to 13 changes a year.