30th Apr 2015 07:28
LONDON (Alliance News) - Textile service company Berendsen PLC said Thursday Chief Executive Officer Peter Ventress will retire from end-July, and it has appointed James Drummond to take up the role from the start of August, and said it had traded in line with its expectations in its first quarter.
Drummond previously acted as chief executive of Avincis Group, which was acquired by Babcock International Group PLC last May, and prior to that chief executive of Invensys PLC's Rail division.
In the quarter to end-March, the company's revenue fell 5% compared to the previous year, hit by the strengthening of sterling, although at constant exchange rates revenue rose 3%.
The company said that its UK flat linen business was hit by contract churn in its Hotels business. Its Facility segment continued to see good underlying development, and its Workwear segment continued to make progress despite challenging markets, Berendsen said.
As a result of the strength of sterling pretax profit for the quarter was down on the previous year, although the company said it is pleased with the underlying progress of its pretax profit.
Shares in the company are trading down 3.3% shortly after market open at 1,053.00 pence.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
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