Raytheon Names Neil Mitchill as Chief Financial Officer

By Kristin Broughton 

Raytheon Technologies Corp. named Neil Mitchill as chief financial officer, succeeding former CFO Anthony O'Brien, who left the company.

Mr. Mitchill's appointment took effect Wednesday, the Waltham, Mass.-based aerospace supplier said Friday. Raytheon declined to provide a reason for Mr. O'Brien's departure.

Mr. Mitchill was previously corporate vice president of financial planning and analysis and investor relations. In 2019, he was named interim CFO of United Technologies Corp. ahead of the company's $135 billion merger with Raytheon Co., a promotion that analysts viewed at the time as an audition for a larger executive role. He joined United Technologies in 2014.

"Neil is a proven leader who successfully guided our finance team through the merger," Greg Hayes, Raytheon's chief executive, said in a press release. He also praised Mr. Mitchill for playing a key role in the combined company's capital allocation and cash savings efforts.

The company declined to make Mr. Mitchill available for an interview.

Mr. O'Brien was named CFO of Raytheon in 2015, and four years later was named CFO of the combined company. He is eligible to receive certain separation payments and acceleration of equity awards granted to him before the closing of the merger, the company said in a regulatory filing.

The abrupt change follows a rocky year for Raytheon. The closing of the company's blockbuster merger in April 2020 coincided with the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The company in October said it would shed 20,000 jobs in 2020 as it navigated declines in airline traffic. The company had approximately 181,000 employees as of Dec. 31. It posted a $3.52 billion loss for the year, its first as a combined entity.

In its announcement Friday, Raytheon also raised its first-quarter earnings guidance to between 87 cents and 90 cents a share, up from between 70 cents and 75 cents a share, on an adjusted basis. The company's full year outlook, which includes projections for adjusted earnings per share of between $3.40 and $3.70, hasn't changed, the company said.

The company is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 27.

--Allison Prang and Doug Cameron contributed to this article.

Write to Kristin Broughton at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 09, 2021 19:56 ET (23:56 GMT)

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