Greene King PLC’s (LON:GNK) long-serving boss Rooney Anand is to step down at the end of April after almost two decades at the pub group.
The 54-year-old joined Greene King as the managing director of its brewing division 18 years ago, before taking the top job in 2005.
‘Time to hand over the baton’
“With a strong team and business culture firmly in place, the time is now right for me to hand over the baton,” said Anand.
“I look forward to supporting [chairman] Phil [Yea], the board and the management team with the succession plan and delivering our plans and results for the second half of the financial year.”
Yea added: “Rooney has proven himself to be one of the most successful and longest-serving business leaders our industry has seen, transforming our company over this period.”
“Although he remains in his role for another six months, I should like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly on behalf of the board, colleagues and shareholders for all he has done for them, the company and the industry.”
READ: Greene King sales boosted by World Cup and hot weather
Greene King said the search for Anand’s successor is “well advanced” and it expects to make a further announcement early in the new year.
“Although this causes short-term uncertainty, we believe this could be a positive catalyst for sentiment towards Greene King, drawing a line under a period of acquisitions and re-focusing the debate around strategic options,” said City broker Liberum.
Trading steady
In a trading update last month, the FTSE 250 group reported like-for-like sales growth of 2.8% for the first four months of its financial year, ahead of the market which grew 1.2%, boosted by the summer heatwave and the World Cup.
Like most of its peers though, Greene King has been battling spiralling costs due to the higher minimum wage and rises in business rates.
Shares edged 0.6% higher in mid-morning trade on Tuesday.