Cobham CEO to be replaced by Laird boss by end of year

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LONDON, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Struggling British aerospace and defence company Cobham (Other OTC: CBHMF - news) said on Wednesday that Chief (Taiwan OTC: 3345.TWO - news) Executive Bob Murphy would step down by the end of the year and be succeeded by David Lockwood, current boss of technology company Laird (Other OTC: LARRF - news) .

Cobham's difficult recent performance had prompted media reports that Murphy could be sacked. The firm said he was leaving "to pursue other opportunities".

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Cobham rallied on news of the new appointment, standing up 4.2 percent to 167 pence at 0818 GMT. Laird traded down 6.1 percent at 311 pence.

Lockwood has been Laird CEO for four years, overseeing average organic revenue growth at the company of 7 percent over the last three years. Before that he worked for BT, GPT (Marconi), BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) and Thales (LSE: 0IW5.L - news) . He will leave Laird on Sept. 5 and join Cobham no later than Jan. 1 2017.

After issuing a profit warning in April, Cobham this month reported a 36 percent drop in first-half profit, leaving it needing a big improvement in the coming months to meet full-year targets and sending its shares sharply lower.

The CEO appointment is not the only change in Cobham's top team. New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) chief financial officer David Mellors is due to succeed Simon Nicholls by the turn of the year.

Jefferies analyst Sandy Morris said making two major changes could be a cause for concern.

"With (Other OTC: WWTH - news) both CEO and CFO now leaving Cobham in the second half of the year, we understand concerns about H2 guidance being achieved," Morris said.

The firm faces execution risks on some of its big programmes in U.S (Other OTC: UBGXF - news) . defence such as the KC-46 air-to-air refuelling system.

Cobham launched a 500-million-pound emergency rights issue in April after it was hit by delayed shipments in its Cobham (Amsterdam: CH6.AS - news) Wireless communications business and due to lower demand from oil and mining customers for flight services in Australia.

Shares in Cobham have lost a third of their value so far this year. They closed Tuesday at 160.3 pence, valuing the business at 2.7 billion pounds ($3.52 billion).

Laird said it had appointed CFO Tony Quinlan to take over from Lockwood as chief executive on Sept. 5. The company manufactures antennae, wireless products and other equipment used in the automotive, healthcare and other sectors.

(Reporting by James Davey, additional reporting by Sarah Young; editing by Paul Sandle and Jason Neely)