Northgate appoints interim CFO
Posted by admin in Career Ladder on Tue, 20/07/2010 - 08:25
Commercial vehicle hire group Northgate has appointed Deborah Stevenson as interim CFO following the promotion of Robert Contreras to chief executive.
Stevenson has held a number of other interim senior finance roles over the last 12 years in various industries, including manufacturing, logistics and business services.
Contreras, who had been with Northgate as CFO since March 2008, was made chief executive last month. The search for a permanent replacement will be conducted after Stevenson has completed debt refinancing discussions.
Northgate, which rents out vans in the UK and Spain, is close to completing a UK restructuring which will reduce its hire companies from 20 to 12 and bring them under a common brand. The move aims to save £10m annually from next year and the business has also reduced its debts from £886m to £598m after raising £108m at the start of its financial year in a rights issue.
Northgate said: “It is planned that Deborah will lead the debt refinancing discussions at the appropriate time. After this has been concluded we will undertake a search for a permanent group financial director and consider both internal and external candidates.”
Northgate, which made a £195.6m loss at the height of the recession, reported profits of £9.6m after exceptionals in the year to April 30.
The Bottom Line:If Mr Cable has his way...
"If Mr Cable had his way, all the big banks would be broken up and bonuses would be virtually eliminated - a sure-fire way in my view of guaranteeing an end to the UK’s ability to compete as an international financial centre. Let’s not forget that this is a man who is on record as saying that everyone who works in a bank has an ‘aristocratic lifestyle’ clearly demonstrating his lack of understanding of the sector." A tough line on bankers’ bonuses could make a brain drain of financial talent a distinct possibility, warns Paul Marsden. Read more