Chief executive steps down at aerospace supplier

Aerospace, energy and defence supplier, Meggitt has announced the retirement of its chief executive.

Stephen Young will step down from his role at the end of April 2018. Mr Young has served in post for five years and prior to that, was Finance Director for nine years.

In an anticipated move, he will be succeeded by Tony Wood on January 1, 2018. Mr Wood has been Meggitt’s Chief Operating Officer since December 2016.

Sir Nigel Rudd, Meggitt chairman, said: “The board thanks Stephen for his commitment and tremendous contribution over the past 14 years and particularly during his time as chief executive. Stephen’s focus on improving operational performance in the business has been unerring and will continue to benefit Meggitt for years to come.

“Tony brings a wealth of industry knowledge, skills and extensive operational experience from his 30 years in the aerospace sector. His contribution as Chief Operating Officer has been outstanding and I know that he will be an excellent successor to Stephen.”

Mr Young said: “It has been a privilege to be chief executive and to work so closely with so many talented people in the 14 years since I joined Meggitt.

“Meggitt is well positioned for the future having won increased shipset content on key civil platforms which will drive accelerated growth for decades to come. Over the past five years we have made significant progress on our strategic initiatives and are beginning to see the financial benefits, most notably from the Meggitt Production System with our first sites entering the latter stages of the programme demonstrating the potential for improvement in both margin and cash.”

In a sperate third quarter update, the group, which has operations in Birmingham and Coventry, said revenue growth had been flat on an organic basis, reflecting a slower ramp up of new civil programmes, which customers have indicated will continue into the fourth quarter, as well as the phasing of military orders and spares.

On a reported basis, revenue declined 2%, including the effects of M&A and foreign exchange.

Over the period, Civil aerospace grew 4% organically, driven mainly by large jets. Original equipment revenues grew 6%, even with the slower than expected ramp up of new programmes and declines in both regional and business jets. Aftermarket revenues increased 4% on an organic basis, with good large jet growth and a modest recovery in regional jet brakes partly offset by slowing growth in business jet spares.

Military revenues decreased 5% organically in the period, driven by lower spares demand. Expectations of strong performance in the fourth quarter are underpinned by good growth in orders on platforms such as F/A-18 and Apache.