May 26 (Reuters) – BP has removed Chairman Albert Manifold with immediate effect, it said on Tuesday, citing governance standards, oversight and conduct issues just months after he was appointed to help oversee a strategy revamp.
“The board has been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance oversight and conduct issues it deems unacceptable and has taken decisive action,” Amanda Blanc, senior independent director at BP, said in a statement published by the company.
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HENRY TARR, ANALYST AT BERENBERG, LONDON
“This is the latest in a series of changes with the leadership team at BP. Manifold had been credited with the push to simplify the company and accelerate the turnaround, and he had overseen the appointment of the new CEO Meg O’Neill.
“His sudden removal will raise questions on the strategy of the company and the reasons for the ongoing churn of executives and board members. At BP’s recent AGM, 18% of shareholders voted against his re-election after the board blocked a climate resolution from the activist shareholder group ‘Follow this’; overall however, it appeared as though investors backed his vision for the company.”
ALASTAIR SYME, ANALYST AT CITI
“The exact reasons for the dismissal of Chair Albert Manifold from the board of BP have not been disclosed but are, in our view, moot.
“The issue is that, unusually for a large IOC, he was part of the equity story: we know many investors that, after several years of turmoil at BP, were re-engaging in the equity story because of his driving of change.
“The question is, has he done enough in his brief eight-month tenure – most notably removing the former CEO and hiring Meg O’Neill – that the investment pathway for the company is now largely set?”
BIRAJ BORKHATARIA, ANALYST AT RBC CAPITAL MARKETS
“Yet again we find ourselves opining on another unexpected change in senior personnel at BP. Without details, it is impossible to judge what exactly happened, but if it was financially related, we would expect this to be noted in the release.
“Given that many investors had cited Albert to us as ‘the agent of change’ at BP, the negative share price reaction is reasonable; however if underperformance continues, assuming no financial impacts from a valuation perspective, we expect BP shares would become more attractive for a potential acquirer.”
DAVID MORRISON, SENIOR MARKET ANALYST AT TRADE NATION, UK
“It’s one of these stocks that should be up there with the Chevrons and the Exxons, even the Shells as well, but it’s had such a bad run for quite a few years now and this is just yet another example. It’s always some nasty, bad PR story that hits them.
“I think they’re probably doing all the right things in response to this. But, it’s just one of those things that bad things keep happening to BP.”
JASON GABELMAN, ANALYST AT TD COWEN
“Many have suggested new CEO (Meg) O’Neill will deliver rather than shape strategy. We wonder if she will pick up the strategic baton, including our previous expectation of a strategy update 2H26.
“We had believed Manifold could be a driving force behind any updates, including an acceleration of investing in core oil & gas assets and further simplifying the business. We suspect this will be followed through on by the current board and new CEO. Nevertheless, continued leadership changes could bring into question pace of change at a minimum.”
MAURIZIO CARULLI, GLOBAL ENERGY ANALYST AT QUILTER CHEVIOT
“Whilst the news is obviously a short-term negative, it is important to remember that BP has made significant operational improvements and strategic refocusing over the past year, and this is the result of the successful efforts of the entire organisation and its management, not just of one person.
“It will now be important that the board of BP and its senior independent director, Amanda Blanc, implement a very thorough search for the new Chair, focusing particularly on both professional skills and personal characteristics, for each prospective candidate.”
LINDSEY STEWART, DIRECTOR OF INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR CONTENT AT MORNINGSTAR
“At this point it’s fair to say BP has the most volatile boardroom of the oil supermajors. The company’s decision to exclude a shareholder proposal that appears to have ticked all the boxes to be voted by shareholders needlessly antagonised a wide swath of investors and again raised questions about governance and oversight at the company.
“With a resurgent share price so far this year, BP should be taking credit for the rewards of its strategic reset. Instead, the company is on its third CEO and now its third chairman in under three years. It’s clear that getting a grip on corporate governance and strategy at the company must be a priority of the interim chair and his eventual successor.”
(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job, Vallari Srivastava, Johann M Cherian, Purvi Agarwal, Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
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