Harsco CEO Patrick Decker Steps Down To Join Xylem In Same Position

(RTTNews) - Diversified industrial company Harsco Corp. (HSC) announced Monday that President and Chief Executive Officer Patrick Decker has stepped down from the positions and as a director, effective immediately. Decker leaves Harsco to join water technology company Xylem, Inc. (XYL) in similar positions.

"On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Patrick for his dedication and many contributions, which include spearheading our Infrastructure joint venture with CD&R, driving forward our Continuous Improvement and Simplification programs and beginning the strategic process to unlock value from our Metals & Minerals division. We wish him success in his new role," Chairman Henry Knueppel said in a statement.

The company has named Director David Everitt to replace Decker as interim president and CEO. Everitt recently retired after a 35-year career with agriculture equipment maker Deere & Co. (DE), and has been on the board of Harsco since 2010. He is also a director of Gates Corp., Brunswick Corp. (BC) and Agrium, Inc. (AGU, AGU.TO).

Decker has been serving as president and CEO of Harsco since September 2012. He came to Harsco after serving as president of Tyco International Ltd.'s (TYC) flow control group since 2007. He has previously served as CFO of Tyco's plastics and adhesives group and also CFO of Tyco's engineered products and services industrial division.

Prior to joining Tyco in 2003, Decker worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. (BMY) in international roles in finance, business development and information technology.

Harsco said it will begin a CEO search process immediately and will engage a leading executive search firm to assist in the process.

Harsco reiterated its 2014 full-year outlook and said it remains on track to announce results of metals and minerals business analysis by May 2014. The company expects operating income from its three business segments to increase at a low double-digit rate, and expects annual operating income in a range of $160 million to $180 million.

Separately, Xylem announced the appointment of Decker as president and CEO, and will be appointed a member of the Board of Directors March 17. Decker succeeds Steven Loranger, who will remain a member of the Xylem Board. Loranger was Chairman, President and CEO of ITT Corp. (ITT), when it spun-off its water businesses as Xylem in October 2011.

Xylem also reaffirmed the full-year 2014 outlook, continuing to expect adjusted earnings in a range of $1.85 to $2.00 per share, on projected annual revenues of about $4 billion.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.96 per share and annual revenues of $3.96 billion for fiscal 2014. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

HSC closed Friday's regular trading session at $25.12, up $0.25 on a volume of 0.22 million shares, and XYL closed at $39.35, up $0.07 on a volume of 0.87 million shares.