Crisis-hit Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE), looking for a new CEO and chairman, on Thursday set out mid-term profit margin targets for its four divisions but activist investors are likely to demand a more substantial turnaround plan.
Guido Kerkhoff, who has taken charge until a permanent replacement for former CEO Heinrich Hiesinger has been found, said that all of Thyssenkrupp’s businesses needed to improve significantly following a profit warning last week.
“The bottom line is that we are not satisfied with the current results,” Kerkhoff said after releasing the new targets as well as third-quarter results. “There’s no point in sugar-coating it.”
Shares in the German industrial group, whose products include car parts, steel, elevators and warships, slipped 0.7 percent by 0954 GMT, with brokerages saying the new targets for 2020/21 were broadly as expected.
