Epicor Software Corp.’s George Klaus has come out of semi-retirement for a second stint running the Irvine-based maker of business software, which has had a tough past year on Wall Street.
He replaces Tom Kelly, who unexpectedly stepped down after less than a year running Epicor.
Kelly left “to pursue other interests,” the company said.
Epicor had recruited Kelly to replace Klaus last February. Klaus became executive chairman at that time.
The company said Tuesday that its board re-appointed Klaus as chairman and chief executive, a post he held for a dozen years.
Epicor’s board seems to have high hopes for Klaus’ abilities as a turnaround guy to fix the struggling company.
“George’s leadership and vision were instrumental in delivering the success and industry leading growth that the company achieved immediately following the last technology recession in 2002,” said Robert Smith, an Epicor board member and chair of its nominating and governance committee. “The board unanimously believes that George is the ideal person to lead the Company at this time.”
During 11 months at the helm, Kelly oversaw a lot of changes at Epicor.
He helped integrate its $314 million buy of Britain’s NSB Retail Systems PLC, launched the company’s latest software package Epicor 9 and recently oversaw a big restructuring in which the company cut some 300 jobs around the world.
Kelly also steered through a 60% drop in the Epicor’s stock in the past 12 months and fended off a hostile takeover bid by New York hedge fund Elliott Associates LP that dragged on for two months.
He was given the chief executive job at Epicor over former president and chief operating officer Mark Duffell, who had been the clear No. 2 to Klaus. Duffell left last year.
Before Epicor, Kelly was chairman and chief executive of Santa Clara’s MontaVista Software Inc., a maker of Linux-based software for autos, set-top boxes and other products.
He’s served on Epicor’s board since 2000.
In the same announcement, the company gave a peek into its fourth quarter results, which it’s set to report on Feb. 4.
For the three months ended in December, Epicor is looking for profits of $12 million to $15 million on sales of $120 million to $125 million.
Analysts, on average, are looking for profits of $13 million on sales of $132 million.
Investors sent Epicor’s shares down 10% on a bad day on Wall Street Tuesday. The company has a market value of $225 million.
