March 12, 2010 - Q-Cells CEO Anton Milner has resigned from both his leading executive role and as board member, apparently as a "consequence" of the company's performance in the wake of a lousy year for the solar industry (it lost nearly €1.4B in 2009, including €411M in 4Q09). Nedim Cen, currently CFO and board member, will take on the CEO role as well "to embark on the swift implementation of the transformation of the business" and continue to shepherd the company's "Q-Cells Reloaded" restructuring program launched last fall.
"Q-Cells has been impacted overproportionally by the current crisis in the global photovoltaics market," and despite its restructuring efforts the company's "very dramatic negative 2009 figures have consequences, and have in particular lead to a loss of confidence in the financial markets," Milner said in a statement. (Q-Cell's stock has plummeted 40% in the past 12 months following its announced restructuring plans, the Wall Street Journal points out.)
Cen, who was serving as interim CFO since June 2009, will have that contract extended; his former employer Alvarez & Marsal, a management consultancy, has been hired to help with Q-Cells' restructuring program.
