Healthcare giant’s chief executive departs ‘by mutual agreement’
Smith+Nephew has appointed Dr Deepak Nath as its chief executive, replacing Roland Diggelmann, who is leaving “by mutual agreement”.
Diggelmann has been in charge since November 2019, having previously been an independent non-executive director at the global healthcare business.
In December Diggelmann had said Smith+Nephew was “at a point of transforming to a structurally higher growth company”, but that will now take place without him.
Smith+Nephew’s share price is trading around a four-year low and last night’s closing price of 1178p was still 40% below its pre-pandemic levels.
Roberto Quarta, chairman of Smith+Nephew, thanked Diggelmann for “the important work he has done to ready Smith+Nephew for our next stage of development”.
Quarta said Nath was “joining us at an inflection point for the business”.
Incoming chief executive Nath will join on April 1, moving from his current role as president of the $6bn-turnover diagnostics division at Siemens Healthineers.
He will receive a base salary of $1.475m, as well as awards matching what he had in place at Siemens Healthineers, including an $800,000 cash bonus in November and share awards that could total $8.5m.
Roland Diggelmann
Diggelmann had been leading on the group’s “Strategy for Growth” and today’s publication of Smith+Nephew’s 2021 financial figures showed good progress.
It revealed a 14% increase in revenue for 2021, to $5.2bn. Its trading profits jumped 37% to $936m.
Diggelmann said: “2022 will be an important step on this journey as we continue to strengthen the business and invest behind innovation, while working to offset near-term headwinds.
“Smith+Nephew is well placed to continue to take advantage of the opportunities we see to drive shareholder returns, including through a new share buy-back programme.”
Smith+Nephew was started in Hull in 1856, where it still has a large manufacturing site.
