Kazera Global Regulatory News (KZG)

19 Sep 2007 07:01

Worthington Nicholls Group plc19 September 2007 Worthington Nicholls Group plc Notification of board changes and update Worthington Nicholls Group plc ("Worthington Nicholls", the "Company" or the "Group"), installers of air conditioning, heating, ventilation and chilled watersystems, announces the following changes to the board of directors of theCompany (the "Board" or the "Directors"). Interim Finance Director The Board is delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Neilson as interimFinance Director with immediate effect. Chris will take over responsibility forall financial matters whilst the Company seeks a permanent candidate for thisrole. Chris has advised a number of companies on financial reporting and strategyhaving previously worked for two AIM listed companies. He joined SynexusClinical Research plc ("Synexus") in September 2005 as finance director tostrengthen its board of directors prior to it flotation in November 2005. Duringhis time with Synexus he helped to deliver the initial phase of a buy and buildstrategy through overseeing the acquisition of two businesses in central Europeand the maiden results in line with City expectations. Prior to working with Synexus, Chris spent seven years with Inter Link Foods plc("Inter Link") as both finance director and business development director. Hewas the finance director of Inter Link during the time of its AIM flotation andwhen it raised £21 million from three share issues. During his time with InterLink, it integrated several acquisitions in UK and Europe and its annualturnover increased from a break-even level of £5 million to £98 million withprofits of £5.9 million. This appointment will bring significant public company experience to bear on theGroup's finances whilst a permanent, full time finance director can beidentified with a suitable background and experience. As part of this reorganisation of the finance function within the Group, TimHunt, the current Finance Director, will step down from the Board. Since beingappointed in January 2007, Tim has focused his attentions on dealing with theCity, reviewing internal systems and procedures and dealing with acquisitions.As a result of the significant amount of work involved in these areasparticularly for a newly floated company with a highly acquisitive strategy, Timand the Board have decided that, in the best interests of the Group, his focusshould be on the financial operational aspects of the business and he hastherefore agreed to step down from the Board, to allow a new finance director tobe appointed to deal with the City. Tim will remain with the Group going forwardin a senior role as Head of Finance. Operational and accounting policies reviews As part of his new role as Chairman, Alastair Stoddart has implemented tworeviews aimed at assisting the Group in identifying areas for improvement and toensure the adoption across the Group of best practices identified from withinnewly acquired companies. The first is a strategic and operational review of the Group focused on organicgrowth opportunities, integration of the acquired businesses, margins andensuring the adoption of best practices within the Group. The review is beingcarried out in two stages; Mr Frank Holland with a strategic focus and GaryPrice with an operational focus. Frank Holland was a founding director of MITIEAir Conditioning (North) Limited and is a business consultant to the buildingservices industry on an international basis. He has many years' experiencewithin the building services industry. Gary Price was formerly Managing Directorof Project Air Limited which was acquired by Worthington Nicholls in June 2006and historically achieved gross margins significantly ahead of those achieved byother Group companies. As part of the acquisition, Gary was contracted toProject Air Limited until 30 June 2007. He has since agreed to remain with theGroup and now has specific responsibility for identifying and implementingrobust operating practices in relation to project planning and marginenhancement throughout the Group. The Board is also conducting a review of the Company's accounting policies, themanner in which they are applied and their suitability to the recently enlargedGroup. Shareholders will recognise that the Group has changed considerably in avery short space of time through five acquisitions and the Board considers itprudent to undertake such a review at this time. Further Acquisitions The Board would also like to clarify the position regarding furtheracquisitions. Whilst cash balances were c£12.5m as at 17 September 2007, the Board will not beconsidering making further acquisitions in the short term. This is to allow theDirectors the time to ensure the acquisitions made to date are sufficientlyintegrated into the Group. The acquisition strategy previously outlined to the Company's shareholders does,however, still form a significant part of the longer term strategy of the Group. Trading statement The Group's current financial year ends on 30 September 2007. The Board intendsto issue a trading statement in the second half of October 2007 outlining, inbroad terms, the expected outturn for this financial year. At that time theBoard will provide an update on the progress of the reviews that are referred toabove. Information required under Schedule 2, Para (g) of the AIM Rules: Christopher Neilson (aged 53) is currently, or has been in the past five years,a director of the following companies: Current: Past:Manweb Communications Limited Inter Link Foods Plc Inter Link Food Group Limited ILG Realisations (No. 1) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 2) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 4) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 5) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 7) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 8) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 9) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 10) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 14) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 15) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 16) Limited ILG Realisations (No. 17) Limited Butlers Pantry Foods Limited Hepworth and Whittles Limited Iatro Limited Farmhouse Bakery Holdings Limited Study Recruitment Services Limited Synexus Clinical Research plc The contents of this announcement include the full disclosures required underSchedule 2, Para (g) of the AIM Rules. Enquiries, please contact: Worthington Nicholls Group 0870 609 1829Alastair Stoddart, ChairmanChris Neilson, Finance Director Smithfield Group 020 7360 4900Katie Hunt / Miranda Good Blue Oar Securities 020 7448 4400Rhod Cruwys / Romil Patel END This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange