Defence and aerospace engineer Cobham PLC (LON:COB) has appointed Jamie Pike as its new chairman.
Pike, a familiar face in City boardrooms, will replace the outgoing Michael Wareing who was brought in two years ago to steady the ship following a series of profit warnings which culminated in a jumbo £500mln rights issue.
READ: Cobham to reinstate in 2019 after difficult couple of years
The plan all along was that Wareing would step down around the time of the 2019 annual general meeting (AGM), which is taking place today at JP Morgan Cazenove’s swanky offices in central London.
Oxford Alumni Pike won’t formally take over until Berry Global competes its £3.34bn takeover of fellow packaging giant RPC Group PLC (LON:RPC), where he currently sits as the FTSE 250 firm’s chairman.
Plenty of directorships
In addition to RPC, Pike is also the chairman of FTSE 100 valve maker Spirax-Sarco Engineering PLC (LON:SPX), while in the past he has chaired the boards of brick company Ibstock Plc (LON:IBST) and door lock manufacturer Tyman PLC (LON:TYMN).
“I am delighted to welcome Jamie to Cobham. He is a very experienced chairman and non-executive director, with a background in engineering and defence,” said current chair Wareing.
“My stepping down represents the final stage of the rolling succession plan agreed by the board at the time of the rights issue in early 2017, and I am pleased that we have delivered on this commitment. Cobham now has a refreshed board to continue improving the group's performance.”
Solid first quarter
In a separate statement, Cobham confirmed it has performed as expected in the opening few months of 2019 as it repeated its full-year guidance.
“Over the past two years, we have returned Cobham to financial strength, announced our new capital allocation and dividend policy and, slowly but surely, we are resolving the contract, legal and regulatory issues that the business has faced,” asid chief executive David Lockwood.
“Overall, I am encouraged by the progress we are making in improving Cobham's performance.”