Share price halved in two years: Peter Spuhler needs to warm up at Swiss Steel

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Chair backs at Swiss Steel. Major shareholder Martin Haefner (69) sells some of his shares to Peter Spuhler (64). Haefner is now free of a problem, he can reduce his financial risk with the steel company as he now owns only 32.7 percent of the shares. On the other hand, Spuhler has a share of over 20 percent with Swiss Steel. Now he is challenged.

This is always troubling: The steel company has been a construction site for years, grappling with internal and external problems. The industry consumes a lot of energy and capital, both of which are scarce and costing more and more. However, the company’s transformation under the “SSG 2025” battle plan is very slow.

Investors flee the company

Investors hoping for performance stay away from the company, and they have for a long time. Nobody trusts the Lucerne company for anything. Jens Alder, the company’s Chairman of the Board, made little change in this regard. The company’s share price has halved since he took over in 2021.

Despite the displeasure of the three big investors, Martin Haefner, Viktor Vekselberg (66) and Peter Spuhler. The backlash from the management team should also slowly get on their nerves. “This is the beginning of a success story” is one slogan, another is: “We are now realizing our full potential.” But far and wide, there is no sign of the potential being tapped. Operating margin is a tragedy. President Jens Alder and CEO Frank Koch set out with great ambitions two years ago.

Economic slowdown adds to pressure

And now the starting position does not get any easier. Swiss Steel is an early player and is likely to come under more pressure given the economic slowdown. So the perspectives are not very exciting. The assumption now is that Haefner and Vekselberg now hope for Spuhler, who will rise to 20 percent and take on more power and responsibility. The tried-and-tested industrialist from eastern Switzerland needs to put more pressure on the management and board of directors under Alder and demand that sooner or later they work hard.

The management team, so eager to take action, has not received much attention so far, but with a generous charging trend. It’s hard to understand how the boss of a troubled company whose stock price is constantly falling and whose prospects are modest can earn an impressive 3.8 million Swiss francs a year. Probably not for Spuhler either.

Source :Blick