EXECUTIVE CHANGES: Halfords hires CFO; new Pendragon, Versarien chairs

Wed, 13th Oct 2021 13:25

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of London-listed company director and manager changes announced on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Halfords Group PLC - Redditch, Worcestershire-based motoring and cycling products retailer - Hires Jo Hartley as chief financial officer and an executive director, joining from gym chain Virgin Active, where she has been CFO since 2015. Hartley previously worked for grocer Tesco PLC. Hartley will join Halfords in mid-April next year, and current CFO Loraine Woodhouse will retire after the company's full-year results are published in June. Halford's will issue its half-year results on November 10.

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Carnival PLC - Miami-based cruise operator - Promotes John Padgett to president of Princess Cruises, effective immediately. Padgett has been chief experience & innovation officer for Carnival since 2014. In his new role, he will report to Jan Swartz, the previous president of Princess Cruises who has been promoted to group president of Holland America Group. This also includes Holland America Line, Seabourn and P&O Cruises Australia brands.

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Pendragon PLC - Nottinghamshire-based car dealership chain - Hires Ian Filby as non-executive chair, starting November 1. Chief Executive Officer Bill Berman had been filling in as executive chair since September 2019, and he will relinquish this role now. Filby was CEO of retailer DFS Furniture PLC until 2018, having previously worked at Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. He currently is non-executive chair of retailer Joules Group PLC.

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Versarien PLC - Cheltenham, Gloucestershire-based advanced materials engineer - Hires Diane Savory to replace James Stewart as non-executive chair. Stewart will retire on December 31, and Savory will take over on January 1, having attended board meetings prior. Stewart has been in post only just over a year, joining the Versarien board in June 2020 to help the company expand in Asia. During his time at the helm, Versarien bought graphene production-related assets and intellectual property from South Korea-based Hanwha Aerospace Co Ltd. Savory worked for fashion retailer Superdry PLC for 22 years, including as a main board director.

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Energean PLC - Hires Roy Franklin as independent non-executive director. Franklin was head of M&A at BP Exploration, part of BP PLC, and he was CEO of Paladin Resources until its acquisition by Talisman Energy in 2005. Franklin currently is chair of FTSE 250 energy services firm John Wood Group PLC and was chair of Premier Oil PLC until it was acquired by Chrysaor Holdings Ltd and relisted in London as Harbour Energy PLC. He also currently is a non-executive director of Kosmos Energy Ltd.

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Marlowe PLC - London-based safety and regulatory compliance services and software - Hires Rachel Addison as non-executive director, starting November 1. Addison is CFO of magazine publisher Future PLC but will step down at the end of this month.

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Reach PLC - London-based owner of the Daily Mirror, Daily Star and Daily Express newspapers - Hires Barry Panayi as non-executive director, starting Wednesday. Panayi is director of Data, Insight & Analytics for retailer John Lewis Partnership, prior to which he was chief data & analytics officer at Lloyds Banking Group PLC.

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Open Orphan PLC - London-based contract research organisation and pharmaceutical services provider - Hires Mo Khan as non-executive director, replacing Michael Meade, effective immediately. Meade had joined the Open Orphan board as part of its acquisition of hVIVO PLC at the start of 2020. Khan worked at contract research firm Pharm-Olam International, part of Houston, Texas-based Pharm-Olam LLC, heading Clinical Development and Clinical Operations.

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Quartix Technologies PLC - Newtown, Wales-based vehicle tracking system provider - Richard Lilwall starts as CEO, replacing 20-year veteran Andy Walters. Lilwall joins the board as an executive director, while Walters remains as a non-executive director. Lilwall's appointment was first announced in July. Quartix also says it expects to meet market consensus for 2021. It places revenue consensus at GBP25.6 million. Consensus for adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and free cash flow is GBP5.0 million. The company says its subscription base grew by 12% to 195,000 vehicles in the first nine months of 2021, bringing the annualised recurring revenue of its fleet subscription base to GBP23.5 million.

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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com