Andrew Davies (businessman)

Andrew Oswell Bede Davies (born October 1963)[1] is a British businessman, and CEO of Kier Group.

Early career

Educated at the University of Sheffield, Davies joined BAE Systems in 1985.[2] At the company he became Managing Director Land Systems in 2004, Group Strategy Director in 2008 and Managing Director Maritime in 2011.[3]

He went on to be CEO of Wates Group in 2014[4] and was appointed CEO designate of Carillion in October 2017.[5] Originally scheduled to join the financially troubled business in April 2018, Carillion announced in December 2017 that it had brought forward his start date to 22 January 2018.[6] However, Carillion went into liquidation one week before he was due to take up his post.[7]

During 2018, Davies continued as a non-executive director of aerospace and defence contractor Chemring, and also walked several long-distance paths including the 186-mile Pembrokeshire Coast Path.[8]

Kier Group

In January 2019, after turning down job offers elsewhere,[8] Davies was linked with the vacant CEO post at the similarly financially troubled Kier Group,[9] officially confirmed on 19 March 2019,[10] with Davies taking up the post on 15 April 2019,[11] when he announced a strategic review of the group's structure.[12] He later said Kier "was fundamentally a very strong operational company but had lost their way strategically and had taken a number of missteps which had proved, frankly, catastrophic."[8]

Less than two months later, on 3 June 2019, Kier issued a profit warning[13] causing its share price to fall over 40%,[14] and the fall continued on 14 June after reports that Kier would sell its housebuilding division.[15] On 17 June, Davies confirmed the housing division sale, plans to exit other markets, and 1,200 job cuts.[16] Kier's share price fell 17% to 108p, a level not seen since the company's 1996 flotation,[17] and its shares were subject to renewed 'shorting' with one analyst saying "every time Andrew Davies opens his mouth [Kier’s] shares seem to dive by 18% and the consensus in the market is that Kier will go bust."[18]

At the group's AGM in November 2019, shareholders objected to Davies's £2.6m annual remuneration package and an associated long-term incentive scheme.[19]

References
  1. "Andrew Oswell Bede DAVIES". Companies House. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  2. "Profile: the new CEO of Carillion, Andrew Davies". Constructing Global. 28 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  3. "All change at the top for BAE Systems". Portsmouth News. 25 September 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  4. "Wates names new chief executive". Construction Index. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  5. "Carillion picks new chief executive to lead its rebuild". FT. 27 October 2017. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  6. Torrance, Jack (20 December 2017). "Troubled Carillion brings forward appointment of chief executive". Telegraph. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
  7. "Carillion to go into liquidation". BBC News. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  8. Rogers, Dave (19 July 2021). "Kier chief says writing was on wall for Carillion weeks before it went bust". Building. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  9. "Kier chief ousted". The Construction Index. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  10. Kleinman, Mark (18 March 2019). "Embattled Kier picks chief left stranded by Carillion collapse". Sky News. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  11. Maatouk, Michele (19 March 2019). "Kier appoints Andrew Davies as new CEO". Sharecast. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
  12. Morby, Aaron (15 April 2019). "New Kier chief sets out to streamline £4bn group". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  13. Prior, Grant (3 June 2019). "Kier in profit warning as problems spread to building division". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  14. Karunaratne, Nilushi (5 June 2019). "Kier woes point to restructuring". Investors Chronicle. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  15. Hickey, Shane (14 June 2019). "Kier shares plunge on report it wants to sell housing division". Guardian. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  16. Prior, Grant (17 June 2019). "Kier cutting 1,200 jobs and selling housing arm". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  17. Kollewe, Julia; Davies, Rob (17 June 2019). "Kier Group to cut 1,200 jobs in attempt to avoid collapse". Guardian. Retrieved 18 June 2019.
  18. Ing, Will (21 June 2019). "Asset managers up bets against Kier share price". Building. Retrieved 21 June 2019.
  19. Morby, Aaron (16 November 2019). "Kier suffers shareholder revolt over chief's pay". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.