Sacking of Endeavour boss leads to big slide in miner's shares

THE sacking of the boss of Endeavour Mining today sparked a major slide for the FTSE 100 shares of the West Africa-focused gold producer.

- Graeme Evans

Endeavour fell 12% or 215p to 1479p after Sébastien de Montessus was ousted following an investigation into an irregular payment instruction issued by him in relation to an asset disposal.

The CEO, whose seven years in charge included FTSE 100 promotion in March 2022, denied the allegations of misconduct but acknowledged “a lapse in judgement”.

He has been replaced by deputy chair Ian Cockerill, who has more than 40 years’ experience in the natural resources industry. UBS analysts backed the shares today, calling the exit a “near-term headwind” unlikely to disrupt the longer-term strategy.