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"Fighting the perfect storm": Electronics chain Mediamarkt-Saturn
Photo: Christoph Hardt / imago images/Future Image
In the farewell email to his colleagues,
Florian Wieser
(40) asserted a few days ago that he wanted to reorient himself professionally.
Other rumors that are "speculated here and there" should not be believed, according to the outgoing CFO of the electronics retailer Ceconomy.
The decision to leave the parent company of Mediamarkt and Saturn was extremely difficult for him, the company was "my professional home" for eleven years, he wrote.
At the end of July, Wieser attracted attention with another letter: a profit warning that was so serious that his departure seemed inevitable.
Now he will vacate his post at the end of the year - and he is not the only one leaving the group.
According to research by manager magazin, the head of finance at MediaMarkt Germany,
Daniel Bossert
, will also be leaving the company.
The company confirmed this on request.
"Daniel Bossert has decided for personal reasons to leave MediaMarktSaturn and reorient himself professionally," said a spokesman.
The successor is
Christophe Michel
, who has been CFO of MediaMarkt Iberia – “one of the most successful national companies” – since 2019 and previously worked for Metro AG in Germany, among other places.
The internal appointment should enable a seamless transition at the top of the finance organization of MediaMarktSaturn Germany.
Wieser, on the other hand, gets an external successor.
Kai-Ulrich Deissner
(53), currently still CFO for the Technology and Innovation board department at Deutsche Telekom AG, is expected to start at Ceconomy in February 2023.
The new financiers should not complain about little work.
Ceconomy must regain the lost confidence of investors in the capital market.
The stock is in permanent descent.
Since the beginning of the year, the paper has lost 72 percent of its value, and the group is only valued at a good 540 million euros.
The analysis house Warburg Research had lowered the target price for Ceconomy from EUR 4.00 to EUR 1.60 on Wednesday, and the share closed at EUR 1.12 on Thursday.
The company's bonds are no better off.
The price of the papers still running until 2026 is not even 57 percent, in April the value was still over 90 percent, last week it was still over 70 percent.
A massive loss of trust.
The electronics retailer under the leadership of
Karsten Wildberger
(53)
has already been hit by the lockdowns and the effects of the corona pandemic in the more than 1000 MediaMarkt and Saturn stores in Europe.
Officially, the company is expecting around 30 to 90 million euros less operating profit (EBIT) in the current financial year, with sales roughly constant in the previous year (21.4 billion euros).
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Plunging consumer mood: Ceconomy boss
Karsten Wildberger
has to lead the electronics retailer through the crisis
Photo: PR
Analysts expect further slumps.
The reason for the critical assessment is the German consumer mood, which is currently plummeting, and the rising prices, writes Warburg analyst
Thilo Kleibauer
in a study published on Wednesday.
This becomes a problem, especially in the important first quarter of business at Ceconomy, which includes Christmas.
In view of rising energy prices and high inflation, 60 percent of consumers are already cutting corners when shopping, according to a new study by the industry association HDE.
For the coming months, 76 percent of those surveyed are preparing to shop more sparingly.
Ceconomy should hit the mark with its electronic items.
Ceconomy wants to achieve lowered targets
The company had already explained in the third quarter that weaker demand, inflationary trends and sharply rising energy costs would affect business, especially in the regions of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Management will therefore focus on reducing costs.
The corrected goals from the summer are still being adhered to.
"We are currently experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis and trade is particularly affected," the company explains.
The current price level corresponds "in no way to the performance of our company".
As the European market leader, everything is currently being done to master these uncertain times and still achieve the goals that have been set.
In order to achieve the goals, the company is currently optimizing its cost structures.
“We are making good progress with this,” it says.
The analysts at Baader Bank had already described the efforts in the summer as "fighting a perfect storm".
The ingredients they listed at the time: inflation, supply chain problems, rising costs, a rising dollar, the aftermath of the Ukraine war, energy shortages and a possible comeback of the pandemic in the fall.
A number of these risks have not exactly diminished since the summer.
The new CFOs will have a lot to do.
