GYOR, Hungary, April 23 (Reuters) - The new board of directors of Hungarian automotive group Raba appointed Istvan Pinter as chief executive on Wednesday, answering weeks of criticism of his predecessor by a key shareholder.
The company's annual general meeting also decided not to pay a dividend following last year's losses.
New CEO Pinter, 45, an engineer who has been working with Raba since 1980, replaces Laszlo Steiner, who resigned following criticism by the municipality of Gyor, one of the main shareholders.
Gyor officials had said Steiner could have done a better job despite acknowledging the difficult international environment in which the company had to operate in the last two years.
Last year Raba posted a net loss of 2.59 billion forints ($11.54 million) last year against a 1.8 billion forint net profit in 2001.
Reelected board chairman Peter Jancso told journalists after Wednesday's meeting that Raba faced several urgent tasks which the new management would have to decide on in the next few weeks.
He said a new strategy should be made public by early July, but he and CEO Pinter declined to give details.
Pinter said more work had to be done, even though the previous management had said the bulk of Raba's streamlining was over.
"I am committed to continuity in reorganising Raba," Pinter told a news conference.
At 1128 GMT Raba shares stood at 1,080 forints, up 0.9 percent.
The representative of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Hubert Warsmann, said the bank regarded itself as a medium-term investor and would eventually sell its stake in Raba.
"It is very clear that in due course EBRD will divest itself from Raba as it did with other Hungarian holdings," Warsmann said.
Raba's main shareholders include Gyor's local municipality with a 11.20 percent stake, the EBRD and DRB Hicom Group each with a 10.85 percent stake, and Wallis Rt with 8.63 percent as of December 31, 2002. For main central European company news, double click on [.CEE] E.Europe hot stocks [HOT-EEU] Main E.Europe news [TOP/EAST] Related stories on [HU] [PL] [CZ] [EEU-STX] [EEU-RES] [EEU-E] For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX50