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New role for former Carillion chief executive

The last chief executive of Wolverhampton’s failed construction and support services group Carillion has become the new non-executive chairman of Score Group.

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Keith Cochrane

Keith Cochrane, aged 53, who was interim chief executive when Carillion went into liquidation in January, is leading the board room team at the Peterhead-based engineering company.

Mr Cochrane and the other former directors of Carillion were criticised for their management of the business in a report by MPs in May.

The first-class honours graduate and chartered accountant previously led Scottish transport giant Stagecoach Group as chief executive from 2000 to 2002, and engineering company Weir Group for seven years.

He left Weir in September 2016 and was senior non-executive director at Carillion when he succeeded Richard Howson as chief executive in July last year.

When Mr Cochrane was grilled by MPs, he admitted he should have acted sooner before the collapse of Carillion.

Mr Cochrane claimed all the decisions he took were in the best interests of the company.

He was due to have been succeeded as chief executive by Wates Group chief executive Andrew Davies on January 22, but Carillion went into liquidation on January 15.

Mr Cochrane was to have remained with Carillion in an advisory capacity to ensure an orderly transition.

The firm’s liquidation left a £900 million debt pile and hundreds of millions of pounds in unfinished public contracts, including the Midland Metropolitan Hospital in Smethwick.

More than 2,800 people have lost their jobs, including nearly 400 at the firm’s city centre headquarters.