Wates Group has appointed David Allen, the current finance director for Crossrail, to the position of chief financial officer and company secretary, which he will take up on January 4, 2016.
Joining the Wates Group Board, Mr. Allen will succeed Huw Davies who will leave Wates at the end of March 2016 following his decade-long tenure in the position. According to Wates, Davies’ stewardship has allowed the financial performance of Wates to remain robust throughout some of the most challenging economic conditions the construction industry has experienced.
Andrew Davies, chief executive of the Wates Group, said: “I would like to thank Huw for his immeasurable contribution to Wates over the past ten years, which has facilitated a robust balance sheet and the Group’s healthy and consistent profit margin.
David Allen joined Crossrail in March 2009 from Laing O’Rourke, where he was finance director for its European construction business. With over twenty years’ experience in finance, Mr. Allen – who is a chartered accountant – joins Wates’ Board as the Group continues to roll out an ambitious growth plan to increase turnover two-fold to £2bn.
Mr. Davies added: “David joins us at an incredibly exciting time in Wates’ history as we accelerate towards our ambitious turnover target, with work-in-hand now at its highest in five years and our order book up 50% on last year.
“I am completely confident that David’s wealth of experience and impressive financial knowledge will help to steer the Group towards continued commercial success.”
