Infosys Ltd’s share price down, appoints ex-SAP executive Vishal Sikka as CEO

Infosys Ltd, the second-biggest software and outsourcing company by sales in India, made an official statement revealing that Mr. Vishal Sikka was named as Chief Executive Officer at a time when the company is seeking to snap the series of four consecutive years of narrowing margins. Mr. Sikka is to succeed Mr. S.D. Shibulal and take over the helm on August 1st.

This is the first time when the company will be run by a person, who was not its founder. According to Infosys statement, Mr. Sikka is to be taken into the company as a director of its board and Chief Executive Officer on June 14th. The appointment comes at a moment when the company is to go through some management restructuring changes.

Mr. Sikka said in Infosys Ltds statement, which was cited by Bloomberg: “Computing technology is reshaping every industry across every walk of life. We, at Infosys, have a unique opportunity to deliver breakthrough solutions that will bring greater value to our clients, employees, investors and other stakeholders.”

According to the companys statement, N.R. Narayana Murthy, who is the main founder of Infosys, as well as S. Gopalakrishnan, who is an executive vice chairman, will step down on Saturday. Still, both executives will continue to be on Infosys board until October 10th. The company also shared in a stock market filing on Thursday that Mr. Murthy will be appointed as chairman emeritus from October 11th.

As reported by Bloomberg, the Vice President of Gartner Inc. – Mr. Rolf Jester commented on the Infosys Ltds situation before the company official announcement was made: “The environment they’re in is really a whole new era, where information technology is absolutely everything. That’s an enormous opportunity but one that’s got to be seized.”

Infosys Ltd lost 0.67% to trade at 3,172 Indian rupees per share as of 8:17 in Mumbai trading, marking a one year change of +30.51%. According to the information published on the Financial Times, the 55 analysts offering 12 month price targets for Infosys Ltd have a median target of 3,675, with a high estimate of 4,440 and a low estimate of 2,719. The median estimate represents a 19.51% increase from the last price of 3,075.15.