KEITH Cochrane’s short spell at the helm of infrastructure group Carillion will come to end in April, when a new permanent chief executive takes over.
The former Weir Group chief executive stepped up from his non-executive role on the board to replace Richard Howson on July 10 after the group revealed it had written down £850 million on the value of contracts.
Andrew Davies will join on April 2 from Wates Group, one of the largest privately-owned construction groups in the UK.
Carillion has been hit by delays on major Scottish construction such as the £745m Aberdeen bypass, which it is building with Galliford Try and Balfour Beatty under the PPP programme.
This announcement led shares to dive 70 per cent, from 192p to 57p.
Carillion has since sold its healthcare contracts to Serco for £50m. And the announcement last week that new lending facilities and agreed deferrals would provide headroom throughout 2018 of between approximately £170m and £190m did little to allay investor fears.
Mr Davies’ appointment led shares to climb 5.7 per cent to 46.7p
Commenting, Carillion chairman Philip Green said: “Andrew has the ideal combination of commerciality, operational expertise and relevant sector experience to build on the conclusions of the strategic review and to lead the on-going transformation of the business.”
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