Tenon's Eglinton resigns after four years

Thursday 4th June 2009

Tenon, whose wood mouldings are sold through US home improvement chains Lowe’s Cos. and Home Depot Inc., said chief executive Mark Eglinton resigned after four years leading the company from the US.

The wood products company is now searching for a new CEO to replace Eglinton, who will leave the company in September, chairman Luke Moriarty said in a statement.

Eglinton had wanted to return to New Zealand for family reasons which couldn’t be reconciled “with the reality of Tenon’s need to have its CEO resident in the US,” Moriarty said.

Shares of Tenon rose 6 cents to $1.06 yesterday and have surged 33% in the past month. In February, the company forecast “flattish” second-half earnings versus earnings in the first half, when it reported net profit halved in the first six months of the year to US$1 million, or an operating profit of US$3 million, down from US$6 million a year earlier.

The company said then that it faced “extremely tough market conditions for the remainder of fiscal 2009”.

Still, since then there have been signs of a thaw in the US property market and a pick-up in consumer sentiment.

Improving availability of mortgage credit and better housing may underpin the market this year, it said.

Tenon is the wood products business that emerged from the break up of the Fletcher Challenge group, having grown out of the processing businesses of Fletcher Forests.

Businesswire.co.nz

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