Paris - Jean-George Malcor, a senior vice president at Thales, is leaving the defense systems company to join CGG Veritas, where he will become chief executive in 2010, the oil and gas service company said in a statement.
Malcor is the third director to leave Thales since the departure of former Executive Chairman Denis Ranque in May and the appointment of his successor, Luc Vigneron.
"Jean-Georges Malcor, currently senior vice president at Thales, will join CGG Veritas on Jan. 1, 2010," CGG Veritas said in an Oct. 26 statement. "In connection with this appointment, it is planned that CGG Veritas will separate the Chairman of the board and Chief Executive Officer functions on July 1, 2010, at which date Jean-Georges Malcor will become chief executive officer of CGG Veritas and Robert Brunck will continue on as chairman of the board."
The appointment went largely unnoticed at the time.
A Thales spokeswoman said, "A great opportunity came up, he took it. There is no problem with Thales or the chairman."
An Oct. 26 research note from brokerage Natexis said, "The market will perhaps see that the departure of established Thales managers is positive, interpreting these moves as a concrete sign of the determination of the new chairman and chief executive, Luc Vigneron, to profoundly rationalize the group and its functioning."
Malcor would probably finish his task - redefinition of the international sales function to re-energize sales - by the time he leaves Thales, the note said. Injecting dynamism into commercial activities is essential for the long-term growth of the company's share price, the report said.
Natexis holds a "strengthen" recommendation on Thales stock, with a price target of 37 euros per share. The stock traded at 32.95 euros, down 0.21 percent, in afternoon trading Nov. 2.
Malcor in June was made senior vice president for continental Europe, Turkey, Russia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, and was previously head of Thales' aerospace and naval divisions.
One market analyst said Malcor's departure signals that a deep reorganization will be announced by Vigneron when the executive chairman unveils his strategic plan next month.
Vigneron is expected to set out his restructuring plan at a board meeting Dec. 10 and brief executives the next day, sources close to the company said.
Thales does not announce the dates of its board meetings, the spokeswoman said.
Malcor had been seen as one of the potential successors to Ranque, but with the appointment of Vigneron, that avenue was closed off. Vigneron previously was executive chairman of Nexter, the land armaments company.
Brunck sat on the Thales board of directors and headed the selection committee that reviewed the candidates for Ranque's successor. A reshuffle of the board in May led to Brunck's departure along with other non-executive directors.
Brunck, meanwhile, was looking for a manager to appoint as chief executive to Veritas, and Ranque recommended Malcor for the post, the analyst said.
The two Thales directors who left earlier this year were Bruno Rambaud, formerly head of the land and joint systems division, and Alexandre de Juniac, who was responsible for continental Europe, Turkey, Russia, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, before he left to take up the post of head of the private office of the government's finance minister, Christine Lagarde.
Rambaud is understood to be joining Rockwell Collins France.
CGG Veritas, quoted on the Paris and New York stock exchanges, offers technologies, services and equipment to the oil and gas industry. The company made a sharply lower net attributable profit of 24.9 million euros ($36.7 million) in the first half of the year, on sales of 1.22 billion euros. The company reported net attributable profit of 111.5 million euros in the first half of 2008.
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