A new chief executive will take over at construction materials giant Breedon Group next month.
Rob Wood, who is currently the listed company’s finance director, will replace outgoing CEO Pat Ward on April 1.
Mr Ward announced his plan to step down last October but continue to help the board until the end of the year.
Based at Breedon-on-the-Hill, near East Midlands Airport, in Leicestershire, the business employs around 3,500 people and has almost a billion tonnes of mineral reserves and resources.
It owns more than 100 quarries, asphalt plants and cement and concrete operations, and operates in sectors ranging from slate production to clay product manufacturing, contract surfacing and highway maintenance.
Since it was launched in 2010, it has grown organically and through the acquisition of businesses in the heavy construction materials market.
Financial results – released today – show pre-tax profits halved last year to £48 million on a turnover on a par with the previous year at £929 million.
The business said it was a “robust performance against backdrop of considerable disruption caused by Covid-19”.
The results said Breedon reported a strong balance sheet and liquidity, and experienced a strong recovery in second half of the year as the economy and construction sector started to reopen, with like-for-like revenues and profits ahead of prior year.
Mr Ward said: “The pandemic brought unprecedented pressures to bear on the group in 2020, which demanded an exceptional response from everyone in our business and I would like to say thank you to all our stakeholders for their support during a difficult year.
“Most especially I would like to thank our colleagues who have worked tirelessly and enabled us to recover strongly in the second half to deliver a very creditable outcome for the year.
“Although we remain mindful of the ongoing impact of Covid-19, with the worst of the pandemic now hopefully behind us and some welcome clarity on Brexit, I believe the prospects for Breedon and for our industry are increasingly positive.
“With robust commitments from the UK and Irish governments to infrastructure investment and continuing long-term demand for housing, forecasters are expecting this year and next to see steady growth in demand for our products in both countries.
“During 2020 we proved our ability to deliver a resilient performance against a backdrop of unprecedented disruption.
“Our track record, coupled with improving market conditions, gives us considerable confidence in the long-term outlook for our company.”
When Rob Wood becomes CEO, he will be replaced by James Brotherton, who joined Breedon as chief financial officer designate on January 1.
Helen Miles is also joining the board as a non-executive director on April 1.
She has operational and commercial experience within a range of listed businesses and knows about the infrastructure sector.
She is currently a director and a member of the executive committee at water company Severn Trent, and before that held senior positions with Homeserve and BT Group.
She is also a non-executive director of the Royal Navy.
Breedon chairman Amit Bhatia said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Pat for his excellent leadership of the group.
“Breedon has thrived during the five years that Pat has been chief executive and I wish him all the best for the future.
“Pat will be succeeded by Rob Wood, who has worked very closely with Pat on the development and execution of the group’s strategy, and I look forward to continuing to work with him. Pat, Rob and James have worked hard over the last few months to ensure a seamless transition.
“We are very pleased to welcome Helen to Breedon.
“I am confident that Helen’s perspective and infrastructure expertise will be highly valuable to the board and that her contribution will help to support the future development of the group.”
