New chief executive appointed at Carillion
Construction and support services group Carillion has appointed a new chief executive to lead its turn around.
Shares in the Wolverhampton-based business plunged after it suffered a £1.15 billion half-year loss after revealing major problems with construction projects at home and in the Middle East.
Andrew Davies will join as chief executive with effect from April 2, at which point he will also join the board.
Keith Cochrane, who has taken over from former chief Richard Howson, will continue to lead Carillion as interim chief executive until then.
Mr Davies is currently the chief executive of Wates Group where he was appointed to the role in 2014. Before that he held a series of senior roles with BAE System over a 28-year period.
He is also a non-executive director of Chemring Group.
Carillion chairman Philip Green said: “Andrew has the ideal combination of commerciality, operational expertise and relevant sector experience to build on the conclusions of the strategic review and to lead the on-going transformation of the business.
"His experience and his people focussed personal style are an ideal combination for our business. We are pleased that he has agreed to join us and we are grateful to Keith Cochrane for his interim leadership of Carillion.”
Earlier this week Carillion agreed to sell a large part of its UK healthcare facilities management business to Serco Group for £50.1 million and up to £190m of new funding. It also announced the winning of three major new contracts in the UK and Dubai.
The Wolverhampton-based construction and support services group has been looking to sell of some of its businesses to shore up its finances.
Carillion also intends to dispose of the remaining contracts in its UK healthcare facilities management portfolio during 2018 and is also continuing to pursue the sale of the group’s Canadian businesses.
Non-core disposals are anticipated to raise £300m by the end of 2018.
