Outokumpu combines its two European businesses under Matthieu Jehl as Rolf Schencking departs

The merger of Stainless Europe and Advanced Materials business lines into one Europe unit is the third change to Outokumpu's leadership team that Listeds has tracked in ten months, and it brings two of the Evolve strategy's four pillars under a single European leader.

Outokumpu has given Matthieu Jehl command of a single, enlarged European business, merging its stainless Europe and advanced materials operations into one unit and parting company with Rolf Schencking, who had run advanced materials since 2024. The change takes effect on 1 August 2026 and gives one president the European operations that absorbed Outokumpu's weakest demand and drove its 2025 net loss.

Jehl, who led business line Stainless Europe and joined the leadership team in 2025, now runs both the stainless business that weighed on 2025 earnings and the advanced materials business the company is counting on for growth. He continues to report to President and CEO Kati ter Horst.

A leadership team that keeps changing

This is the third change to Outokumpu's leadership team that Listeds has recorded in ten months. Johann Steiner took over business area Americas in October 2025 when Tamara Weinert left; Anouk de Graaf joined as head of people, sustainability and corporate relations in February 2026; and Jehl's promotion, alongside Schencking's exit, follows in August.

The board has moved at a similar pace. Four of its ten seats have changed hands in roughly sixteen months. Hilde Merete Aasheim and Olavi Huhtala joined in April 2025 AGM as Pierre Vareille left, and Timo Ritakallio and Jenni Lukander joined after the March 2026 AGM, with Ritakallio elected vice chair and Kari Jordan re-elected chair.

What changes, and what the company says

The new business area Europe sits above two commercial organizations, one for stainless and one for advanced materials, in place of two business lines reporting up in parallel. Outokumpu says the structure is meant to sharpen customer focus and support execution of Evolve, its 2026–2030 growth plan.

Announcing the change, ter Horst said
"I wish Matthieu every success in his new role as President of business area Europe. With extensive experience across the steel industry, Matthieu combines a deep understanding of market dynamics, a strong strategic perspective and a relentless focus on operational excellence. His leadership, business acumen and energy will be key to advancing business area Europe's competitiveness, supporting the execution of our EVOLVE strategy and delivering on its ambitions. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Rolf Schencking for his valuable contributions to Outokumpu."

Inside the Evolve strategy

Evolve is Outokumpu's growth plan for 2026–2030, and the consolidation changes who runs its European pillars. The company organizes it around four pillars: holding cost competitiveness and cash generation in its core sustainable stainless steel business, building profitable growth in advanced materials and alloys, moving up the chromium value chain to draw more from its own chrome mine, and developing new products from proprietary materials technology.

Two of those four pillars now sit inside business area Europe, which is why the consolidation matters beyond the org chart. The alloys pillar carries capital. Outokumpu has begun a two-phase investment in high-nickel alloys at its Avesta site in Sweden, starting with a EUR 30 million first phase to install an electro slag remelting unit and finish engineering work. The company puts the two phases combined at an estimated EUR 150 million and says it is targeting a return above its 20% internal hurdle rate for transformative investments.

A chromium project runs in parallel. A USD 45 million pilot plant in the United States for low-CO2 enriched ferrochrome and chromium metal is expected to be operational in the first half of 2027, and the company published its first related patent applications in July 2026. Alongside the growth spending, a EUR 100 million restructuring program is due to deliver annual cost savings by the end of 2027, roughly half of them within 2026.

The appointment places both the recovering Stainless Europe and the Advanced Materials business lines under one president, in place of the two business lines that reported separately before.