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The chief executive of Fortnox, the Swedish software provider targeted by short sellers, has left the company with immediate effect.
Tommy Eklund, who transformed a niche supplier of accounting software into a stock market sensation, said on Tuesday that the decision to depart was a “heavy-hearted” one but now was a “good time for new leadership”.
The almost fivefold surge in Fortnox shares between 2020 and 2024 turned the software supplier into one of the world’s most highly-valued tech groups, but its metronomic customer and revenue growth drew scrutiny.
Over the past couple of years, Fortnox stock was a popular short for hedge funds, including London-based Marble Bar.
Roger Hartelius, chief financial officer since 2017, will be interim chief executive while Fortnox seeks a permanent successor, the group said in a statement.
Shares in Fortnox tumbled 12 per cent in early trading on Tuesday, extending a decline from a recent high in March.
After a Financial Times article in March that examined Fortnox’s growth and highlighting investor questions about its prospects and accounting methods, the company’s share price fell almost 15 per cent, wiping hundreds of millions of dollars off its then-$4.6bn market capitalisation.
In response to questions about the FT report on a results call in April, Eklund said “we will become better and better at explaining the business, if it’s something that is hard to understand, of course”.
In June, Fortnox restated figures for its market share after the FT challenged numbers it presented to investors at a capital markets day in May. It also announced the departure of chief operating officer Johan Lundgren.
Announcing Eklund’s departure, Fortnox said that under his leadership the company had met several targets, including “doubling both the number of customers and turnover per customer”.
Chair Olof Hallrup added that the company was “therefore in a strong position to start work on the next five-year plan that extends to 2030”.
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