Trafigura Names Richard Holtum CEO

Richard Holtum will take over as chief executive of global trading house Trafigura from Jan. 1 next year, the company said on Tuesday.

Holtum will take over the helm at a time when trading firms are set to see reduced profits following windfall years after the COVID-19 pandemic, while sharp equity growth in recent years will also mean hefty expenses in paying out departing shareholders.

Holtum becomes the group's third ever CEO after around 10 years at the company. He joined Trafigura in 2014 on the firm's Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) team, rising to global head of gas and power in 2022 and adding renewables to his portfolio in 2023.

His rise at the company coincides with a booming gas market, with prices spiking on the back of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which helped to generate billions of dollars worth of profit for trading houses and helped gas and LNG desk profit rise to unprecedented levels.

Prior to joining Trafigura, Holtum worked on rival trader Glencore's crude oil desk. He began his career in the British army.

Outgoing CEO Jeremy Weir, who held the position for over 10 years, will take up the role of group chairman on Jan 1.

Reuters exclusively reported in April that Weir had begun priming Holtum to take the helm.

"The Board of Directors unanimously selected Richard Holtum to lead the Trafigura Group," independent non-executive director Sipko Schat said.

The announcement is the second organisational reshuffle in Trafigura in quick succession. A little over a week ago the firm said it would create a fourth pillar for its business, operational assets, to be headed by Jiri Zrust.

Holtum's former role as global head of gas, power and renewables will pass to current head of power trading, Igor Marin.

Profit in focus
Holtum will take over Trafigura at a time profits for trading houses are set to weaken following two years of jumbo earnings due to energy prices spikes and volatility following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Trafigura's net profit for the first half of its financial year fell by more than 74% this year, the lowest since 2020 for the same period, after posting record or near-record results every year over 2020-2023.

The drop in profit in the first half of this year came despite a 15% rise in traded oil volumes compared with the same period of 2023.

Record profit in recent years allowed Trafigura to grow equity almost 2.5 times to $16.5 billion in the last 4 years. The company will therefore have to spend billions on buying out departing shareholders in the next few years.

Former CFO Christophe Salmon, executive director Jose Maria Larocca, and COO Mike Wainwright announced their intention to retire this year.

(Reuters - Reporting by Robert Harvey and Dmitry Zhdannikov, Julia Payne and Shubham Kalia; Editing by David Goodman and David Evans)