Funding agency H Companions has urged Harley-Davidson’s shareholders to take away three administrators from the board, together with its CEO, holding them answerable for the corporate’s declining gross sales and falling inventory worth.
H Companions, the long-lasting American model’s second-largest investor with a 9.1% stake, made the newest transfer days after the agency known as on CEO Jochen Zeitz to step apart instantly.
Zeitz, who turned the CEO in 2020, is anticipated to retire this yr however has stated he would keep till a alternative was discovered.
Harley, at the moment valued at $2.7 billion, has seen its share worth drop 45% over the previous yr and decline 43% since April 2022 as the corporate struggles to attraction to new generations of riders.
The funding agency intends to run a withhold-the-vote marketing campaign to push out Zeitz, who has served as a director for 18 years, Norman Thomas Linebarger, who has been a director for 17 years, and Sara Levinson, a board member for 29 years, based on a letter launched on Tuesday.
“We believe Mr. Zeitz, Mr. Linebarger, and Ms. Levinson should be held accountable for the destruction of shareholder value,” H companions stated in an announcement.
Harley didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for touch upon the letter.
H Companions didn’t recommend any different candidates within the letter.
H Companions’ Jared Dourdeville final week resigned from Harley’s board, saying the corporate skilled “cultural depletion” because of the departure of senior leaders and its distant working insurance policies.
Harley’s board consists of eight members and the corporate is scheduled to carry its annual assembly on Might 14.
5 years in the past firstly of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harley confronted a boardroom problem from one other funding agency, Impala Asset Administration, however shortly settled that struggle amid the uncertainty of the well being disaster.
