Investors welcome Indra's new CEO, José Vicente de los Mozos, coldly. The share fell 6% last March when the dismissal of the previous CEO, Ignacio Mataix, was announced, but the appointment of his successor barely raised the price of the shares by 0.17%, below the average of the Ibex 35 in Friday's session. It closed at 11.92 euros which is 10% more than at the beginning of the year, but 5% less than a month ago.
The resignation of the German director, Axel Arendt, after voting against De los Mozos – as published by this newspaper in its edition on Friday – cooled the perception of the appointment among investors. "The new CEO has 40 years of experience, but not in the defense sector," the GVCGaesco securities company points out to its clients in a report to which this newspaper has had access. In addition, he stresses that "corporate peace at Indra seems never to come, as seen with the resignation of independent director Alex Arendt appointed at the end of 2022".
More positive is an analysis by the investment bank UBS that highlights "the solid industrial trajectory of De los Mozos". He also stresses that he sees favorably that the new CEO will maintain executive powers unlike the president of Indra, Marc Murtra, "in accordance with good practices of separation of functions".
The cohabitation between Murtra, an executive without extensive experience appointed by the Government, and De los Mozos, a seasoned manager also well seen by the PP, is one of the unknowns of the new stage of Indra. For now, both are striving to show cohesion.
"Indra's Board of Directors has placed its trust in it as Indra's new CEO. After more than four decades in the automotive sector at Renault, Nissan and Ficosa, I put at Indra's disposal all my experience and know-how to take advantage of the new technological opportunities that the international context offers us," said De los Mozos on his Linkedin profile.
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Thanks also to Marc Murtra, Chairman of Indra, for his trust. Together and alongside all the people who work every day at Indra, we will become a leading Spanish multinational technology company," he added.
The chairman of Indra, ten years younger than De los Mozos, also receives the new top executive with a floral offering. "It is a privilege for Indra to have a CEO with the international experience, independence and industrial background of José Vicente de los Mozos. We are going to work together to promote the company of the future, an Indra more focused on business and the new technological opportunities that the new international situation offers us," he said in an official statement.
Murtra's eternal challenge is to get independent directors for Indra after the expulsion of those who were there when he came to office and this new resignation of one of those he managed to incorporate later.
By not agreeing to continue even one more minute after the replacement of Mataix by De los Mozos, the German causes a vacancy among those labeled as independents that causes a current majority in the board of directors in favor of the Government and its allies, which is not perceived positively neither by investors nor by the National Securities Market Commission.
The CNMV also expects Arendt to make public the reasons for her resignation "as soon as possible" as indicated in recommendation number 24 of the Code of Good Governance. The latter demands that Murtra report on the dismissal "including sufficient reference to the reasons or circumstances provided by the director".
Arendt was the only one of the fourteen members of the council who voted against De los Mozos thus contradicting among others, the representatives of Sepi, the arm of the Government in Indra.
He is also the only foreign member of the board since last autumn and an experienced executive seasoned at Airbus and Rolls Royce with extensive knowledge in a field, that of defense, for which Indra wants to bet after the increase in contracts unleashed in the world by the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
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