Management Turnover as Change Agent

Monday, September 8, 2014

August Experiences Major Drop in Executive Turnover - Coincides with Employment Growth Drop for August

August is the first month in a long time where executive turnover showed significant declines from the same month a year earlier (August 2013) and from the previous month (July 2014).  It is likely, the latest drop in Liberum Research's executive turnover numbers is a momentary blip.  Liberum expects turnover in September to increase significantly and to continue growing throughout most of the Fall.   As has so often been the case, the drop in executive turnover for August coincided with a similar drop in August for job growth as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and by ADP's August employment Report.
 
Liberum Comparison Breakdown of Key August Executive Turnover 

Below is a breakdown of Liberum's key executive category percentage changes for August 2014 compared with August a year earlier and the previous month of July 2014.   
  • For August 2014 declines in turnover took place in three key categories.  CEO changes declined 24% from  August a year earlier, C-level changes declined 20%, and board of director changes declined 25%.  CFO changes on the other hand, increased a mere 1%.
  • The month to month change in executive turnover (July 2014 to August 2014) also showed significant declines in three of the four key categories.  CEO changes declined 30% for CEOs, C-level changes declined 26%, and board of director changes declined 29%.  CFO changes on the other hand, increased 32%.       
Below are the overall turnover totals for August.  The information is just illustrative of how institutional investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company's performance.  Using Liberum's database could offer a totally new perspective on investment and is a potential way to come up with unique special situation opportunities.  Executive search firms on the other hand can use the information to generate new leads and new clients.   

Call now (212-988-5497) or email richard@twst.com and get a no obligation one week trial to Liberum's online management change database.
 
KEY CEO CHANGES - AUGUST 2014
63 COMPANIES WITH CEO CHANGES WORTH RE-EXAMINING 
According to Liberum's Management Change Database, a total of 157 CEO related changes occurred during August 2014. Here are 63 from the time period that caught my eye.   By significant, I'm looking for situations where I think a particularly strong or weak choice has been made - given the apparent current state of the company - or where there is an interesting special situation. (Anyone using Liberum's database could do the same kind of analysis for other key titles, e.g., CFOs, COOs, CMOs Presidents, etc.)

DATE  COMPANY TICKER  EXCHANGE  MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS    
08-01 Xiangtian Usa Air  GOAS  OTC  971
08-04 Brady Corporation  BRC  NYSE  1306
08-04 Cafepress Inc.  PRSS  NASDAQ  87
08-04 DST Systems, Inc.  DST  NYSE  3595
08-04 ITT Educational Services, Inc.  ESI  NYSE  186
08-04 Southwest Gas Corporation  SWX  NYSE  2256
08-04 Synacor, Inc.  SYNC  NASDAQ  66
08-04 Vantage Health  VNTH  OTC  17
08-04 Vystar Corp  VYST  OTC  5
08-05 Dara Biosciences  DARA  NASDAQ  11
08-05 Rex Bionics  RXB  SEA
08-06 Sage Grp Plc Unsp  SGPYY  OTC  6876
08-06 Sprint Nextel Corporation  S  NYSE  23275
08-06 Theravance, Inc.  THRX  NASDAQ  2478
08-07 Bcb Bancorp, Inc.  BCBP  NASDAQ  108
08-07 Cleveland-Cliffs Inc  CLF  NYSE  2618
08-07 Cortendo Ab  CRTOF  OTC  57
08-07 Nanometrics Incorporated  NANO  NASDAQ  398
08-08 Axion Intl Hldgs  AXIH  OTC  20
08-08 GNC Corporation  GNC  NYSE  3091
08-11 Bemis Company, Inc.  BMS  NYSE  3982
08-11 Citizens & Northe  CZNC  NASDAQ  241
08-11 ConAgra Foods, Inc.  CAG  NYSE  13279
08-11 Demand Media Inc.  DMD  NYSE  167
08-11 Destination Mater  DEST  NASDAQ  266
08-11 Empire Global Gam  EPGG  OTC  974
08-11 Lmi Aerospace Inc.  LMIA  NASDAQ  187
08-12 Capital Product P  CPLP  NASDAQ  973
08-12 Equal Energy Ltd  EQU  TORONTO  215
08-12 Gncc Capital, Inc  GNCP  OTC  20
08-12 Manitoba Telecom  MOBAF  OTC  2190
08-12 Serco Group  SRP  LONDON  15
08-12 Spark Networks plc  (ADR)  LOV  NYSE  133
08-13 Alternative Energ  ALNE  OTC  36
08-13 CDI Corp.  CDI  NYSE  282
08-13 Ezcorp Inc   EZPW  NASDAQ  525
08-13 Platforms Wireles  PLFM  OTC  306
08-15 Cms Bancorp, Inc.  CMSB  NASDAQ  21
08-15 Decisionpoint Sys  DPSI  OTC   4
08-15 Hallmark Financial Services, Inc.  HALL  NASDAQ  188
08-18 Aeropostale, Inc.  ARO  NYSE  308
08-18 Dollar General Corp.  DG  NYSE  19339
08-18 Eniro  ENRO  STO  
08-18 Kennametal Inc.  KMT  NYSE  3509
08-18 Mechel OAO (ADR)  MTL  NYSE  762
08-19 Gordmans Stores  GMAN  NASDAQ  65
08-19 Imperva, Inc. Com  IMPV  NYSE  770
08-19 Urologix, Inc.  ULGX  OTC  3
08-20 Polonia Bancorp,  PBCP  NASDAQ  46
08-21 Aaron's, Inc. Com  AAN  NYSE  1838
08-21 Ixia  XXIA  NASDAQ  752
08-21 Petlife Pharmaceu  EVGID  OTC  
08-22 Landauer, Inc.  LDR  NYSE  342
08-22 NTN Buzztime Inc.  NTN  NYSE  40
08-22 Rightscorp, Inc  RIHT  OTC  26
08-25 The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc.  BONT  NASDAQ  226
08-26 Single Touch Syst  SITO  OTC  57
08-26 Telecity Group Pl  TLEIY  OTC  2679
08-26 Western Graphite  WSGP  OTC  595
08-27 Pandora Media, In  P  NYSE  5509
08-27 Xzeres Corp  XPWR  OTC  15
08-28 Era Group Inc.  ERA  NYSE  522
08-29 Donegal Group, In  DGICA  NASDAQ  420
08-29 Neutra Corp  NTRR  OTC  4
 
AUGUST 2014 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 1157
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 131> Energy - 101
> Banking - 73

AUGUST 2014 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 157
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 16
> Retail - 12> Banking - 9
> Business Services - 9

AUGUST 2014 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 158
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy - 30
> Drugs/Biotech - 28
> Banking - 12

AUGUST 2014 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL - 395
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Drugs/Biotech - 43
> Energy - 35
> Business Services - 27