Hydraulics company unveils boardroom changes

AIM-listed technical fluid power products supplier, Flowtech Fluidpower has today (March 27) announced a series of board changes.

After six years, non-executive chairman Malcolm Diamond is to retire and will step down at the AGM, scheduled for June 3.

The board said non-executive director Bill Wilson will then take over as executive chairman.

Bill has been a non-executive director since September 2018, and held the role of non-executive chairman for 18 months prior to the company’s IPO.

The board believes his 30 years of experience in the manufacturing and industrials sectors is extremely well suited to supporting the management team in an executive capacity.

This role is not expected to be full time, but a flexible commitment depending on workflow.

The board is also pleased to announce the appointment of Roger McDowell as senior independent director with effect from the AGM.

Roger is a highly-successful businessman and entrepreneur, with a strong record of delivering shareholder value.

He was managing director of Oliver Ashworth for 18 years before IPO and subsequent sale to Saint-Gobain, and won The Sunday Times AIM non-executive director of the Year award in 2017 for his chairmanship of Avingtrans, a precision engineering business.

He also currently serves as non-executive chairman of Hargreaves Services, senior non-executive director of Tribal Group and is a non-executive director of Brand Architekts, Proteome Sciences, ThinkSmart, Augean and British Smaller Companies VCT II.

Roger will chair the remuneration committee and sit as a member of the audit, AIM compliance and nomination committees.

The board’s objective is to have three executive directors, supported by three non-executives.

A search has already commenced for the additional non-executive director.

Roger McDowell

If a suitable candidate has not been found by the time of the AGM, Malcolm will continue to serve as a non-executive director until the search is concluded.

The Skelmersdale-based company is focused at this time of national crisis on ensuring the safety and wellbeing of all its stakeholders.

It said it has considerable headroom within its current bank facilities, but said it is also scenario testing the business to assess implications for working capital, cashflow and trading.

In a statement this afternoon, it said: “We are in close contact with our suppliers, customers and bankers as we progress, and plan to report the results of this work as soon as possible.”

Malcolm Diamond, said: “Having been chair since 2014, I have had the pleasure of working with ambitious and dedicated colleagues over the past six years as we have expanded rapidly within a highly-fragmented market.

“It has been a pleasure to welcome Bill Wilson and Russell Cash on to the board as we focus on restructuring key operational resources in order to yield the many cost synergies available from acquisitions made over the past three years.

“I feel that with the benefits of these actions now becoming tangible, it is the right time to retire leaving the company in revitalised hands.”

Chief executive Bryce Brooks said: “I am enormously grateful for the support Malcolm has given me and the rest of my executive team over the last six years, and we are all very much looking forward to working with Bill and Roger in their respective new roles.

“While our immediate priorities are the health and safety of our employees and the support we give our customers, these changes will help underpin the long-term future of our organisation.”