Medifast Falls as Interim CFO Leaves: Washington Mover

Medifast Inc. (MED), a maker of weight- loss products, declined the most in almost two years after its acting chief financial officer said he would resign, six weeks after the company’s prior CFO stepped down.

Medifast fell 13 percent to $25.69 at 12:14 p.m. New York time, after earlier tumbling 16 percent in its biggest intraday decline since March 2011. Medifast said earlier today that Edward J. Powers would leave as acting CFO and principal accounting officer no later than Jan. 4.

The Owings Mills, Maryland-based company, which sells diet- plan meals and weight-loss counseling, said Powers was leaving “to pursue other interests” without offering further information, according to a regulatory filing. He took over Nov. 13 after Medifast said former CFO Brendan Connors had resigned, citing the same explanation. The shares more than doubled this year through Dec. 24.

Joseph Kelleman, the company’s director of finance-supply chain, will take over as CFO on an interim basis, the company said in its filing. Medifast said it’s continuing a national search for a permanent replacement.

Powers is leaving Medifast to take a job at another company and was always viewed as an interim CFO, Alecia Pulman, a spokeswoman for Medifast, said today in a telephone interview. She declined to say where Powers was going.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Nussbaum in New York at anussbaum1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net