Saipem appoints energy industry veteran Puliti as CEO

(Reuters) -Saipem has promoted Alessandro Puliti to the post of chief executive to replace Francesco Caio who has resigned with immediate effect, the Italian energy services company said on Wednesday.

Puliti, will also continue in his current role as general manager of the group, Saipem added.

Before joining Saipem in February this year, Puliti spent three decades first at Agip and then its parent energy giant Eni, including as chief operating officer for natural resources and chief upstream officer.

Saipem is controlled by Eni and Italian state lender CDP.

Caio was appointed as Saipem CEO in 2021 and presented an upbeat industrial plan before the group shocked the market with a hefty profit warning in January.

Saipem said Caio had resigned "as he considered completed, with the first half year results, his role to reposition and relaunch the company".

The company in late July confirmed its 2022 guidance and business plan targets after posting a first-half adjusted core profit of 321 million euros ($325 million).

The group had launched a life-saving cash-call but fell short of its 2 billion euro target and left a pool of banks to mop up the shares in July.

Saipem withdrew its outlook and issued a profit warning in January due to a significant deterioration of margins on some contracts, including offshore wind.

Saipem had been facing hurdles to reposition itself in the renewables energy sector as COVID-19 and supply chain disruptions weighed on margins.

By 0745 GMT the stock inched down about 0.6%, slightly underperforming Italy's flattish blue-chip index.

(Reporting by Federica Urso, editing by Agnieszka Flak and Keith Weir)