Yell CFO lets his fingers do the walking in a new direction
Posted by admin in Strategy & Planning on Tue, 18/05/2010 - 09:19
Yell's finance director has joined its chief executive in announcing his departure from the Yellow Pages owner.
John Davis will step down with long time boss John Condron who has been CEO of Yell since its sales by BT in 2001. Condron plans to retire by next May.
Davis, who has been chief financial officer since 2000, is leaving to "pursue a new direction in his career". He will stay until a successor is found. Davis said that the departures were being announced because the firm was in a solid financial shape. “Neither of us would have chosen to leave if we didn’t think that the business was in good shape,” he added.
The departures were announced as Yell posted annual results showing revenues down 11.5% to £2.12 billion and adjusted earnings down 24% to £619.6 million in the year to 31March.
Condron said : "The financial and economic impacts over the past two and more years have been unprecedented for our customers and, therefore, for ourselves. Economic recovery, and therefore the recovery of our customers' confidence, has yet to become fully established. However, we continue to experience noticeable improvement in the rate of decline.
The company predicts that revenues would fall by a further 11% in the three months to the end of June and then would continue to drop at about 15 % until the end of September.
Bob Wigley, chairman of Yell, said : “[Davis] has chosen to leave Yell only now that it is clear that the group has all the financial strength it needs to continue delivering strong profit and cash flows The timing and process of the departure ensures we can run a thorough and orderly succession process.”
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