Shares hit as managing director quits automotive supplier

Brownhills engineering group Castings has announced that the managing director of one of its subsidiaries is stepping down.

Mark Lewis, head of truck and automotive components business CNC Speedwell, will leave the business on October 20. No reason has been given for his departure.

In a brief statement to the markets, Castings said its current chief executive Adam Vicary would assume operational responsibility for CNC until a permanent replacement is found.

During this time, it said a full review of the machining division would be undertaken and further details would be released when the group announced its interim results on November 10, 2017.

The CNC Speedwell business was hit by the loss of a major contract in 2016 and the group said that while some new orders had been secured to partly fill the vacant capacity, it was expected to take up to three years before this work was in full production.

While profits were impacted last year, the group said it expected to see an improvement during 2017/18 and beyond.

The group’s shares closed 3.5% down following the statement.