U.K.’s Worst Stock of 2019 Gets New Leadership For New Year

(Bloomberg) --

Metro Bank Plc is set to end 2019 as the U.K.'s biggest laggard, leaving a big task for new leadership to turn around the company and its beleaguered shares.

Metro's 89% drop this year is the worst performance among stocks on the FTSE All-Share benchmark tracking companies listed on London's main market. The lender's decline exceeds the 83% plunge for cash-strapped fertilizer-miner Sirius Minerals Plc and the 80% drop for embattled construction services group Kier Group Plc.

The challenger bank on Wednesday said Chief Executive Officer Craig Donaldson will depart at the end of the year and will be replaced by Chief Transformation Officer Dan Frumkin as interim CEO while the bank searches for a permanent replacement. Earlier this year, founder Vernon Hill also stepped down as chairman.

The shares have sunk over the past 12 months amid a probe by regulators, revealed in February, into how it missclassified certain assets. Concern around deposit withdrawals added momentum to the decline, with the company issuing new equity in May to improve its capital position.

“We doubt that a new CEO or plan can resurrect its languishing shares or address its mounting problems,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Georgi Gunchev wrote in a note. “Delisting, sale or break-up continue to look like its most viable options.”

MORE: Metro Bank Says CEO Donaldson to Leave After Share Plunge

The shares rose 0.5% as of 9:07 a.m. in London. A spokeswoman for Metro Bank declined to comment on this year's stock performance.

To contact the reporter on this story: Joe Easton in London at jeaston7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Beth Mellor at bmellor@bloomberg.net, Jon Menon

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