2013 Executive Turnover Totals Point to Positive Growth Continuing

The American economy appears to have turned the corner but is still far from out of the woods.  With unemployment still slowly dropping and job growth incrementally improving, there appears to be growing optimism about job prospects and economic growth.  This optimism experienced a hiccup recently when the U.S. Government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics December 2013 job growth figures were well below analysts’ expectations.  Analysts expected a large number for December 2013 (around 200,000) and were quite disappointed after BLS announced,

The unemployment rate declined from 7.0 percent to 6.7 percent in December, while total nonfarm payroll employment edged up (+74,000)…

Top executives in both small and large firms also find themselves in a similar situation.  Opportunities are growing for top executives yet, underperforming firms are now more likely to change deck chairs as the overall economy shows life.  Liberum Research expects to see increased turnover in the executive ranks as we move through the early months of 2014.

Liberum has put together below a six year quarterly breakdown of executive turnover totals for CEOs, CFOs and C-level executives covering North America. Most of the below quarterly numbers showed continuing declines until the second quarter of 2011.  At this point, the numbers began to reverse themselves.  Turnover at the executive levels of corporate America began to grow but not consistently.  Companies began again to consider new blood and often looked to change their corporate strategies as kernels of opportunity began to sprout ever so slightly.  Anyone investing in the market must pay special attention to executive turnover both at the top and the middle executive ranks.  Failure to do so, will result in lost opportunities or worse.

Below is a simple table outlining the quarterly turnover totals as registered through Liberum Research’s Management Change Database for 2008 through the fourth quarter of 2013 for CEO, CFO and overall C-level turnover.

Total CEO Turnover Comparisons

Total CFO Turnover Comparisons

Total C-level Turnover Comparisons

As you can see from the quarterly and annual executive turnover totals in the above chart, North American public companies are operating at a more consistent level with regard to turnover.   The same is true when viewed from a brief monthly perspective.  December 2013′s executive turnover totals remained reasonably high in the key categories.  Liberum anticipates this trend will continue as we move through January and February.

The latest monthly comparison figures with regard to executive turnover for December 2013 with those of December 2012 and November 2013 and December 2013 are as follows:

• CEO turnover for December 2013 declined 9% from that of December 2012, CFO turnover declined 3%, while overall C-level turnover remained the same.

• The month to month change from November 2013 to December 2013 showed an increase of 12% for CEOs, an increase of 6% for CFOs and an increase of 15% with regard to C-level changes.  Overall these totals remain positive signs for the economy.

In the below report, Liberum has focused on fifty two CEO changes of special significance for the month of December out of a total of 225. We have also put together the overall turnover figures for the month of December 2013.  The below information is just illustrative of how investors could view executive turnover and its possible relationship with a company’s performance. The same could be done for COOs, Presidents, Chairmans etc. just through the Liberum database.

DATE       COMPANY   TICKER    EXCHANGE   MARKET CAP $ MILLIONS

12-02 Rathbone Brothers RAT  LSS  7

12-03 Polycom, Inc. PLCM  NASDAQ  1810

12-04 Wolfden Resources WLF  CANADA  10

12-05 Agri-Dynamics Inc AGDY  OTN

12-05 Rainbow Coral Cor RBCC  OBB  3

12-05 Zodiac Exploratio ZEX  CVE

12-06 Domino’s Pizza, Inc. DPZ  NYSE  3871

12-06 Rio Bravo Oil, In RIOB  OBB  29

12-06 Selectica, Inc. SLTC  NASDAQ  23

12-09 First Physicians FPCG  OTN  50

12-09 Hologic, Inc. HOLX  NASDAQ  5992

12-10 Blox Inc BLXX  NYSE  864

12-10 Clean Diesel Tech CDTI  NASDAQ  13

12-10 General Motors Corporation GM  NYSE  55870

12-10 Jacksonville Banc JAXB  NASDAQ  75

12-10 Lululemon Athletica Inc. LULU  NASDAQ  10127

12-10 QLogic Corporation QLGC  NASDAQ  998

12-11 Absolute Software ABT  TORONTO  296

12-11 Crumbs Bake Shop, CRMB  NASDAQ  10

12-11 EOG Resources, Inc. EOG  NYSE  43089

12-11 Female Health Com FHCO  NASDAQ  244

12-11 Spdr S&P 500 SPY  ETF

12-12 Restoration Hardw RH  USC  2510

12-13 FTI Consulting, Inc. FCN  NYSE  1683

12-13 Great East Energy GASE  OBB  25

12-13 QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM  NASDAQ  123200

12-13 Rsa Insurance Gro RSNAY  OTN  5410

12-16 KBR, Inc. KBR  NYSE  4518

12-16 Pricer -B- PRICB  STOCKHOLM

12-16 Violin Memory, In VMEM  NYSE  128

12-17 Centor Inc CNTO  OBB  74

12-17 Halozyme Therapeu HALO  NASDAQ  1663

12-18 Encision Inc ECIA  OTN  7

12-18 Globalscape Inc GSB  NYSE  44

12-18 Integrated Device IDTI  NASDAQ  1520

12-18 QUALCOMM Incorporated QCOM  NASDAQ  123100

12-18 Standex Int’l Corp. SXI  NYSE  760

12-19 Arricano Re Est  ARO  LONDON

12-19 Bhp Billiton Limi BHP  NYSE  169500

12-19 Co-Signer, Inc COSR  OBB  4

12-20 Nielsen Holdings NLSN  NYSE  17237

12-20 Renuen Corporatio RENU  OTN  324

12-23 Acer Inc Gdrregs ACEIF  OTN

12-23 CyberOptics Corporation CYBE  NASDAQ  40

12-23 EarthLink, Inc.  ELNK  NASDAQ  516

12-23 First West Virgin   FWV  NYSE  28

12-23 Invivo Therapeuti  NVIV  OTN  150

12-23 Metabolix, Inc. MBLX  NASDAQ  46

12-23 Orgenesis Inc ORGS  OTN  31

12-23 SMTC Corporation (USA) SMTX  NASDAQ  37

12-27 Crocs, Inc. CROX  NASDAQ  1427

12-31 Deutsche Tele Ag  DTEGY  OTN  75116

DECEMBER 2013 MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS

C-LEVEL MANAGEMENT CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 1448
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Energy – 161
> Drugs/Biotech – 129
> Metals/Mining – 103

DECEMBER 2013 CEO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 225
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy – 29
> Manufacturing – 17
> Drugs/Biotech – 16

DECEMBER 2013 CFO CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 181
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS

> Energy – 34
> Drugs/Biotech – 17
> Banking – 12

DECEMBER 2013 BOARD OF DIRECTOR CHANGE STATISTICS
GRAND TOTAL – 539
TOP INDUSTRY SECTORS
> Energy – 69
> Drugs/Biotech – 50
> Business Services – 31
> Manufacturing – 31

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