(Reuters) - British software maker Aveva Group Plc (L:AVV) said on Friday Chief Executive Richard Longdon would step down after 17 years at the helm, just weeks after reporting a second failed attempt to tie-up with France's Schneider Electric SE (PA:SCHN).
Aveva, which makes software used to design oil rigs, ships and nuclear power stations, said Longdon would move to the role of president for 12 months after stepping down as CEO from Dec. 31.
The departure of a veteran executive as trading improves after a turbulent year was perhaps a sign that Aveva will go it alone, analysts speculated, dampening hopes of renewed M&A in the near term.
"The fact that no one stepped forward during or after the first Schneider approach in July 2015 suggests Aveva will continue as an independent company for a while yet," JP Morgan Cazenove analyst Stacy Pollard wrote in a client note.
Aveva named current Chief Financial Officer James Kidd as deputy chief executive with immediate effect and said he would take on the role of CEO permanently from January.
Aveva said in June that talks over a possible tie-up with Schneider had ended, with a source saying that complexity of integrating the two operations, which derailed the first deal in December, still loomed large in the new proposal.
Aveva said on Friday trading since May 24 has been in line with expectations and that its current fiscal year earnings could get an uptick from prolonged weakness in the pound, which has been battered since Britain voted to leave the EU.
UBS analysts upgraded their full-year earnings per share estimates by 6 percent, citing the currency benefit for the group that gets only about 10 percent of its sales from the UK.
Numis also said Aveva may benefit from better trading conditions given signs of a "gentle return of confidence" to the oil & gas market.
The company suffered last year from its exposure to oil and gas markets, which account for 40 percent of its revenues, and tough conditions for its customers in South America and South Korea.
Longdon said the company was "resilient and in great financial health".
"I am... hugely reassured by the fact that we have the bench strength to promote from within," he said.