Nexans Taps EV Veteran Vincent Piquet as CFO to Power Growth Strategy

PARIS, FRANCE – November 24, 2025 – In a strategic move that underscores its commitment to leading the global energy transition, cable and electrification specialist Nexans has appointed Vincent Piquet as its new Chief Financial Officer, effective January 19, 2026. This is far more than a routine executive shuffle; it represents a calculated decision to install a financial leader whose recent experience lies at the very heart of the electrification revolution—electric vehicles and software.

Piquet, currently the CFO of Ampere, Renault's dedicated EV subsidiary, will join the Nexans Executive Committee. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the company as it navigates a period of ambitious growth, fueled by massive investments in renewable energy infrastructure and smart grids worldwide. As Nexans CEO Julien Hueber noted, Piquet brings “deep financial expertise, international experience, and leadership capabilities to support the company’s next phase of growth and transformation.” For investors and market watchers, the key question is how this specific expertise will be leveraged to energize Nexans' already robust strategy.

A Financial Architect for the Energy Transition

Nexans is not just growing; it's transforming. The company has repositioned itself as a pure player in sustainable electrification, and the financial results reflect the success of this focus. In the first nine months of 2025, Nexans reported a solid +5.8% organic growth, driven overwhelmingly by its electrification businesses, which surged by +12.6% in the third quarter alone. The company's backlog tells an even more compelling story. The high-voltage Transmission segment, critical for connecting offshore wind farms and strengthening national grids, boasts an adjusted backlog of €7.9 billion, providing clear revenue visibility well into 2028.

This immense pipeline of capital-intensive projects requires a specific brand of financial stewardship. Piquet's background appears tailor-made for this challenge. His nearly two-decade career at General Electric saw him in diverse CFO roles across complex industrial sectors like Healthcare and Oil & Gas, often in volatile international markets. This experience, spanning ten countries, honed his skills in operational performance optimization and strategic transformation—essential tools for managing a global portfolio of long-cycle projects.

His role will be to ensure that Nexans can finance its expansion while maintaining financial discipline. With the company confirming its upgraded 2025 guidance—targeting an adjusted EBITDA between €810 million and €860 million—and securing a €250 million financing facility from the European Investment Bank for innovation, Piquet will be tasked with orchestrating the capital allocation needed to turn its record backlog into profitable, sustainable growth.

From Automotive Value to Industrial Electrification

What makes Piquet’s appointment particularly insightful is his most recent role at the helm of finance for Ampere. At Renault, he was a key figure in the strategic shift “from volume to value,” a crucial turnaround for the automotive brand. He then took that experience to Ampere, a company operating with the agility of a tech start-up within the vast Renault Group, focused entirely on the high-stakes, fast-paced world of EVs and software.

This experience provides a unique playbook that is directly transferable to Nexans. The sustainable electrification market, while industrial in nature, shares many characteristics with the EV sector: rapid technological evolution, intense competition, and the need for significant, forward-looking investment in R&D and manufacturing capacity. Piquet's experience managing the financial dynamics of a high-growth, innovation-driven business like Ampere will be invaluable as Nexans seeks to outmaneuver competitors and solidify its leadership in areas like subsea cabling for offshore wind, a market projected to grow at a staggering CAGR of over 20% through 2032.

The move signals a clear intent to infuse the industrial giant with the financial agility and value-focused discipline of a modern technology company. It's an acknowledgment that succeeding in the energy transition requires not just industrial might, but also the kind of nimble, strategic financial management honed in the most disruptive sectors of the new economy.

Steering Performance, Planet, and Prosperity

Piquet’s appointment also strongly reinforces Nexans' commitment to its E3 model (Environment, Economy, Engagement) and its ambitious sustainability targets. The company has pledged to achieve Net-Zero emissions by 2050, a commitment validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). This is not just a corporate pledge but a core element of its business strategy, which has already helped triple profits and reduce its carbon footprint since 2018.

Modern CFOs are increasingly responsible for integrating ESG metrics into financial strategy and reporting, a domain where Piquet will now play a central role. His task will be to ensure that Nexans' economic performance and its environmental goals are not just parallel objectives, but deeply intertwined drivers of long-term value. This involves steering investments towards low-carbon products, optimizing production to meet emission reduction targets (a 46.2% cut in Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030), and effectively communicating this integrated strategy to a market that is placing ever-higher premiums on sustainable performance.

Analysts have maintained a largely positive outlook on Nexans, with a consensus “Buy” rating and a stock performance that has seen gains of over 50% in the last six months. The appointment of a CFO with Piquet’s credentials is likely to further bolster investor confidence that the company has the leadership required to execute its complex, long-term vision of balancing prosperity with planetary responsibility.

Capitalizing on the EV Infrastructure Boom

Perhaps the most direct synergy from this appointment lies in the burgeoning electric vehicle infrastructure market. Nexans is already a significant player, offering specialized solutions like its fire-safe NEOBUS cabling for charging in underground parking and investing in fast-charging technologies. The company’s AmpaCity R&D center is dedicated to advancing Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure (EVCI).

Piquet’s insider perspective from Ampere—understanding the product roadmaps, infrastructure challenges, and supply chain dynamics of an EV manufacturer—is a strategic asset of immense value. He is uniquely positioned to help Nexans anticipate the future needs of the EV industry, from the power requirements of next-generation fast chargers to the complex grid integration needed to support millions of vehicles. His financial acumen can guide Nexans to not only supply cables but to develop higher-value, integrated systems and services that solve critical bottlenecks for charge point operators and automotive partners.

By bringing in a leader directly from the EV front lines, Nexans is making a powerful statement about its ambition in this space. The move positions the company to better align its innovation and investment strategy with one of the most significant growth drivers of the global electrification movement, ensuring it remains an essential partner in building the connected and low-carbon future it aims to power.