HELSINKI (Reuters) - Europe's largest stainless steel maker Outokumpu (HE:OUT1V) said on Monday it would replace its chief executive following investor discontent after the Finnish company recently warned of a bigger quarterly loss.
Outokumpu, 26 percent owned by the Finnish state, said it had picked Roeland Baan, an executive from aluminium products company Aleris, to start as the new CEO at the beginning of 2016. He will replace Mika Seitovirta, who has led the company since 2011.
Shares in the company had jumped 6.2 percent by 1154 BST. They have fallen about 90 percent since Seitovirta took over.
"The market reaction shows this is good news for Outokumpu ... Its competitors have been able to perform decently in a difficult market while Outokumpu has fallen behind," said Antti Viljakainen, analyst at Inderes Equity Research.
Outokumpu has not reported an annual operating profit since 2007. It has struggled to turn the business around following an unsuccessful acquisition of Thyssenkrupp's (DE:TKAG) Inoxum unit in 2012.
The acquisition was supposed to offer a route to recovery, but the deal had to be partly reversed after the EU demanded an important mill in Italy be left out of it.
Last month, the company warned of deeper quarterly loss than expected, saying a drop in nickel prices was making distributors hold back orders while production problems were also harming the business.