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LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - British engineering company
Rolls-Royce said Bradley Singer, a representative of its
largest shareholder the activist investor ValueAct Capital, has
resigned from its board, weakening the stock.
Shares in the company, which makes engines for large
airliners, lost 4% in early trading, making the company one of
the top losers in Britain's bluechip index.
Rolls-Royce said on Tuesday that Singer, chief operating
officer of ValueAct, left on December 9 after nearly four years
as a non-executive director.
ValueAct owns a 9.35% stake in Rolls-Royce according to
Thomson Reuters data. When Singer joined the board, the
company's chairman Ian Davis said he would remain on it as long
as ValueAct remained a significant shareholder.
Analysts at Jefferies dismissed worries that Singer's
departure meant ValueAct was set to change its shareholding.
"We think it inevitable some will interpret the board change
as signalling ValueAct is imminently going to reduce its
shareholding, but such was the Relationship/Confidentiality
Agreement between Rolls-Royce, ValueAct, and Bradley Singer that
we believe there to be no substantive change," they said in a
note.
A spokesman for ValueAct declined to comment on its future
trading plans.
ValueAct's shareholding in Rolls-Royce was first announced
in 2015 and Singer joined the board in 2016, at a time of
turmoil for the company. He said on Tuesday that the company was
now on a "solid path forward".
ValueAct states on its website that it regularly owns stakes
for three to five years but it can hold them for ten years or
more.
(Writing by Sarah Young; editing by Kate Holton)
