Mota-Engil Drops After CEO Jorge Coelho Steps Down: Lisbon Mover

Mota-Engil SGPS SA (EGL), Portugal’s biggest construction company, fell the most in more than a week in Lisbon after Chief Executive Officer Jorge Coelho stepped down for personal reasons.

The stock dropped as much as 6 percent to 1.78 euros, the biggest intraday decline since Dec. 31. The Oporto-based company traded down 3.9 percent to 1.82 euros at 8:55 a.m. in the Portuguese capital, reducing its market value to 369 million euros ($485 million). Trading volume was almost twice the three- month daily average.

“Investors are always weary when CEOs leave companies, especially when they have done a very positive job,” said Pedro Oliveira, a trader at Go Bulling in Lisbon.

Mota-Engil was the second-best performer in Lisbon’s PSI20 index after Banco BPI SA (BPI) last year, with a 51 percent increase.

As CEO of Mota-Engil for five years, Coelho oversaw the company’s international expansion to about 20 countries to counter a slump in the domestic construction sector. Goncalo Martins, who was the company’s chief financial officer, will replace Coelho, Mota-Engil said in a regulatory filing yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Henrique Almeida in Lisbon at halmeida5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net