Israel’s Nice names SAP’s Russell as CEO, Q2 profit tops estimates

JERUSALEM :Israeli cloud-based software provider Nice on Thursday tapped SAP executive Scott Russell as its new chief executive, replacing Barak Eilam who is stepping down at the end of the year after a decade as CEO.
Russell, who will take up his new post on Jan. 1, 2025, has for the last 14 years been chief revenue officer of the German software firm and a member of its executive board.
He will be based at Nice’s Hoboken, New Jersey office.
Eilam, who has been at Nice for 25 years in all, had said in May he would step down at year-end but would act as a strategic consultant during the first half of 2025.
The CEO announcement coincided with Nice reporting a higher than expected rise in second-quarter net profit. Diluted earnings per share reached $2.64, excluding one-time items, up from $2.13 a year earlier. Revenue rose 14 per cent to $664.4 million.
Nice had been expected to earn an adjusted $2.58 per share on revenue of $663.5 million, according to LSEG data.
It maintained a 2024 outlook for revenue of between $2.715 and $2.735 billion, up 15 per cent at the midpoint, and raised its adjusted 2024 EPS estimate to between $10.60 and $10.80 – up 22 per cent from 2023 – from $10.53-$10.73.
Analysts project EPS ex-items of $10.63 and revenue of $2.73 billion.
Nice shares were up 7.2 per cent in afternoon trading in Tel Aviv to narrow losses for all of 2024 to 9 per cent.
Under Eilam the company became a key player in the enterprise software market for cloud and AI, while tripling revenue – with cloud revenue moving from near zero to $1.6 billion – and earnings per share.
Eilam last year was a key critic of the Israeli government’s planned judicial overhaul plan.
Scott had worked at IBM and PWC prior to SAP, where he was also chairman of SAP North America and other units.
Nice Chairman David Kostman said Scott’s global enterprise software experience “will be instrumental as he leads Nice through its next phase of growth” and “as we continue to execute on our platform strategy leveraging cloud, digital and AI.”
Scott said he looked forward to leading Nice to further growth. “We have an incredible opportunity ahead of us as NICE continues to lead the digital and AI transformation and provides a unique platform for growth in the coming years.”