Smith & Nephew shares fell and were leading the FTSE 100 fallers after the company said finance chief John Rogers resigned to take up a new job in the U.S.

Shares in early European trade were down 3.5% at 1,071.50 pence and were down 13% in the year to date. The shares were last trading at this level in May when the company released a trading update for the first quarter.

The London-listed medical technology company on Wednesday said Rogers would step down from the board with immediate effect and that Senior Vice President of Finance, Pierre Palassian, would serve as interim CFO. Rogers will leave the CFO position on Sept. 30, the company said.

In early August the company downgraded underlying revenue growth guidance for the year to 4%, from 6%, after a weak second-quarter, which saw hip and knee implant growth falling, among other items.

J.P. Morgan Securities analysts noted that the market would likely react negatively to Rogers' resignation, given his key role in driving the company's margin expansion.

"He was generally seen as a good communicator and was well regarded and so we see this news as an incremental negative that is likely to see the shares off low single-digit to mid single-digit," the analysts said.