Reed Elsevier CFO Resigns -- Update 2

   By Simon Zekaria 

Reed Elsevier Group PLC said Wednesday its Chief Financial Officer Duncan Palmer has resigned just over a year into the role, citing unspecified family circumstances.

Mr. Palmer, who joined the Anglo-Dutch publishing group from U.S.-based fireglass company Owens Corning in August last year, will leave his role at the latest by next September, Reed Elsevier said. Mr. Palmer, who replaced longstanding finance director Mark Armour, was appointed designate CFO in August 2012, taking on the official CFO role in the November.

The company said it has begun a search for a replacement.

"Duncan has made an important contribution to the business and I am disappointed that his family circumstances require him to return to the U.S.," said Reed Elsevier Chief Executive Erik Engstrom.

At 0920 GMT, shares in dual-listed Reed Elsevier, which runs the legal database Lexis-Nexis and publishes New Scientist magazine, fell 0.8% to 843 pence. The combined value of the two parent companies, Reed Elsevier PLC (RUK) and Reed Elsevier NV (ENL), is approximately 18 billion pounds ($28.78 billion).

Weakness in the U.S. legal publishing market has seen Reed Elsevier, like its peers, make strategic changes to the direction of the business in recent years as it bids to further lessen its reliance on print assets. It has strengthened its presence in digital media and, in April, acquired Mendeley, a social network for academics.

Write to Simon Zekaria at [e-mail]

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