BP chair to step down next year

(Sharecast News) - The chair of BP is to step down, the oil and gas major announced on Friday, amid calls by investor groups for a shake-up of the board. Helge Lund, who has held the role since January 2019, will leave "in due course", BP said, most likely in 2026 once his successor has been appointed.

The announcement comes less than a month after activist investor Follow This said it would call for a vote against Lund's reappointment at April's shareholder meeting.

The group is angry that Lund did not offer an investors a say on BP's decision to scrap its energy transition targets.

Chief executive Murray Auchincloss announced earlier this year that BP would cut spending on renewables and boost investment in oil and gas, reversing earlier radical plans to slash fossil fuel output and transform BP into a green-focused business

Follow This, which campaigns on environmental issues, argued that shareholders should have been offered a direct vote on the new strategy.

The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum also recommended voting against Lund's re-appointment and abstained on whether Auchincloss should be re-elected, also citing governance around the strategy shift.

However, other shareholder groups - including Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis - recommended voting in favour of the re-election of both the board and management.

Lund said on Friday: "Having fundamentally reset our strategy, BP's focus now is on delivering the strategy at pace, improving performance and growing shareholder value.

"Now is the right time to start the process to find my successor and enable an orderly and seamless handover.

"The board and I are commented to supporting Murray and his team, and to overseeing BP's delivery of its strategic and financial objectives."

Senior independent director Amanda Blanc, who will lead the search for Lund's successor, said: "We are starting a comprehensive search to identify candidates with the credibility and relevant experience to lead the board and continue driving management's safe execution of the reset strategy."