Pexip’s boss, Odd Sverre Østlie, goes to work

Odd Sverre Østlie has ended up as president of videoconferencing company Pexip, according to a stock exchange announcement Monday afternoon.

He will be temporarily replaced by CFO Øystein Hem, who will act as the company’s senior manager until a permanent replacement for Østlie is appointed.

Odd Sverre led the company through a merger and significant growth process and through the company’s listing in 2020 […]. The board’s vision is identical to that of Odd Sverre for the company in terms of strategy, but they have different views regarding the approach going forward. Thus, the board of directors and Odd Sverre agreed that it was time to find a new CEO, Chairman Michel Sagan says in the report.

Østlie was the head of Pexip when it went public in May last year, and its price before the first trading day was around NOK 6.2 billion. The company is currently valued at NOK 7.6 billion.

– I’ve had the honor to lead Pexip in recent years. We have built a powerful technology platform and gained the trust of prominent customers […]. I remain confident in the company’s future and wish the entire “team” all the best on the way forward, Ostley says in the letter.

Neither Østlie nor Sagen responded to DN inquiries on Monday afternoon.

ups and downs

On the day of the stock offering on May 14 last year, there was no doubt that the stock had captured the attention of many investors. In the pre-listing capital increase, the stock was subscribed 20 times, and the first trading day ended at a closing price of NOK 87.5. It is almost 40 percent higher than the subscription price for the issue, which was set at 63.5 NOK.

– It’s been a long time since we’ve had such a thing, and you remember how Tandberg stocks went in their time. He said that if you compare with Zoom, it’s exciting with Pexip because it can be connected to all systems Then Pareto Analyst Karl Oscar Strom.

The bullish start was followed by a somewhat sideways development in the stock market, before stocks, like the rest of the market, were affected when the Corona virus came in March of last year.

The bottom point ended at around 57 crowns in December 2020, before the stock turned around. Home office restrictions and coronavirus restrictions have given the company strong headwinds, and within two months the stock is up 105 percent. The first list of 117 crowns was one of the symbols of the massive recovery of growth stocks across the Corona pandemic, as was Kahoot, among others.

However, since the initial peak, there have been mills. The share is down nearly 40 percent since the end of February, as concerns gripped the market, among other things, over price hikes.

– We see the same in Kahoot, Patientsky, and now Pexip. They are all technology stocks and have experienced exponential growth in the past year. When we now get new numbers where the growth factor is lower, there will be a real setback in 2021. Then investors will start asking themselves how much growth in 2020 due to coronavirus and how much structural growth is actually accelerating, Carnegie analyst Oliver Pisani told DN in July.

Alpine star on the owner’s side

Two of the alleged primary investors in connection with pre-listing capital raising, the investment firm Capital Group and Salt Lake City-based Wasatch Global Investors Fund, are today among the company’s largest shareholders. In addition, investor TD Veen owns a large stake.

In the second quarter, the company posted a loss of just over NOK 40 million, while recurring income (ARR) ended at $92.7 million. (Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We want you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.