Fife-based interiors contractor Havelock Europa has appointed a new chairman who wants to invest £300,000 in the company.
Ian Godden has agreed to join the board as a non-executive director and chairman with effect from January 25 when existing chairman David MacLellan will retire.
The board has resolved to issue 3,000,000 new ordinary shares to Mr Godden through his pension fund at 10 pence per share, subject to shareholder approval.
With the mid-market price of an ordinary Havelock share at the close of trading on Monday on the Alternative Investment Market 8.50 pence, the 10 pence issue price represents a premium of 17.6%.
Mr Godden is interested in 194,213 ordinary shares in Havelock and if his £300,000 investment takes place he will have 3,194,213 ordinary shares representing 7.69% of Havelock’s enlarged share capital.
Mr MacLellan said: “I am delighted to announce that Ian has agreed to become the new chairman of Havelock and his commitment to invest in the company, at what is hoped will be a point of change for Havelock.
“Ian has a good understanding of Havelock’s activities, having been a director of the company from 1995 to 2006, and a track record of helping businesses grow.”
Mr Godden carried out a short period of detailed strategic consultancy for Havelock in 1989 and was a non-executive director of the company from 1995 to 2006.
He supported its expansion into financial services and point-of-sale sectors and its acquisition of ESA McIntosh in 2002, giving him a good understanding of Havelock’s business and markets.
From 2011 to 2016 he was chairman of KBC Advanced Technologies Limited, during which time the company underwent a major reorganisation.
The transformation delivered an overall operational improvement, and after the company was sold to Yokogawa in April 2016 he became a part-time senior adviser to the new owner.
He has also a consultant with Booz Allen and Roland Berger, following his early business experience as an engineer and project manager with BP in the North Sea, Kuwait and the USA.
The holder of a MBA from Stanford University in California and an engineering degree from Edinburgh University, he retired from full time consulting in 2006.
From 2007 to 2013, he was chairman of Farnborough International Limited which organises the Farnborough and Bahrain airshows.
His current directorships include Bristow Group Inc, the global industrial helicopter services company, based in Houston, US, and Glenmore Gas Inc that he founded in 2007.
Havelock’s directors are convening a general meeting to on January 25 to approve the issue of new ordinary shares to Mr Godden.
Havelock reported a better-than-expected trading performance in the first half of 2016 after cutting more than 100 jobs in a “right-sizing” exercise.
It had to save £3 million a year after the loss of a major contract with the Lloyds Banking Group.
Turnover fell in the first six months by 12% to £25.4m but the operating loss was more than halved to £700,000.
