Dive Brief:
- Automobile seating manufacturer Adient tapped Peter Carlin, a member of its board of directors, as its next CFO, according to a Friday press release and securities filing. Adient manufactures both seating systems and individual components for major original equipment manufacturers, operating more than 200 manufacturing or assembly plants worldwide, according to its website.
- Carlin will step down from his board seat at the Plymouth, Mich.-based company on Oct. 1, to serve as vice president of finance, according to the press release. He will assume the CFO role on Nov. 16, when current finance chief Mark Oswald steps down, according to the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- “This team has calmly executed through some of the most challenging business conditions faced by any business in today's world,” Carlin said in a Friday post on LinkedIn. “I look forward to helping all of our employees, partners and customers around the world navigate future challenges and drive value for our shareholders.”
Dive Insight:
Adient will trim the size of its board to seven members when Carlin assumes the VP of finance role in October, according to the filing.
Carlin has served as a member of Adient’s board since 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. His previous roles include serving as a senior technical advisor for video game retailer GameStop, a senior analyst for Saddle Point Management and as managing director for the Blue Harbour Group.
As Adient’s CFO, Carlin will receive an annual base salary of $820,000, according to the filing. His target bonus award for fiscal 2027 will be 100% of his base salary, and he is also set to receive a target equity award for that fiscal year with a value of $4.2 million, according to the filing.
The CFO announcement follows a few months after Oswald announced his intent to retire from the top finance seat no later than Dec. 31, according to an SEC filing on July 6. At the time of the filing, Adient noted it had initiated an external search for a CFO successor.
The CFO transition conincides with efforts by the company to navigate cost pressures from the U.S.-Iran war.
For its third quarter, Adient reported adjusted EBITDA of $225 million, flat compared to the prior year period despite a $32 million setback from what the company classed as “temporary headwinds related to both the war in the Middle East and “customer/supplier driven inefficiencies,” according to its earnings report. Adjusted net income for the quarter was also flat year-over-year at $38 million, the company said.
Though “temporary external pressures are weighing on near-term results” the company’s “underlying operating performance remains resilient, and we remain focused on delivering our full year commitments,” Oswald said during the earnings call, according to a transcript.
Cost pressures related to the Middle East conflict have pushed up energy prices, prompting the Federal Reserve on Sept. 16 to increase the main interest rate for the first time in three years.
Renewed tensions in the conflict was a key impetus behind the decision to hike rates, Yardeni Research President Ed Yardeni said in a note previously cited by CFO Dive.
