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Pennon Group has announced that Ian McAulay will step down from the position of Viridor chief executive, and from the Pennon board, with immediate effect.
He is leaving the group to “pursue other opportunities”, according to a statement.
Phil Piddington has been appointed as managing director of Viridor, and will take up the role from today (1 September).
Piddington joined Viridor in 2014 to lead the energy division in his current role of chief operating officer. Since joining the group, he has played a “key role” in delivering Viridor’s portfolio of the energy recovery facilities.
Pennon chair John Parker said: “The board would like to thank Ian for his valuable contribution to the company and wishes him every success. Ian leaves Viridor on track to meet management expectations for 2016/17.
“We are delighted to welcome Phil as managing director of Viridor where his wealth of operational experience will be an asset to the company. I am pleased that the depth of talent within the group has resulted in our being able to fill this role from within the organisation.”
Piddington has almost two decades of experience in the energy industry, having previously held senior management positions within the RWE Group. Prior to that he had an extensive career within BP, including managing director of BP Energy.
In addition to his Viridor responsibilities he is also vice president of the Combined Heat and Power Association in the UK and chairman of Cogen Europe. He has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Chemistry and an MBA.
Whitman Howard utilities analyst Angelos Anastasiou said the move was “unexpected”.
“While have no reason to believe that there is anything sinister behind these moves, they were not expected, and they do raise some questions,” he said.
“We do not believe that there are any issues with the underlying business at Viridor and, had there been, we would have expected them to be mentioned in the announcement.”
Pennon Group announced its final results for financial year 2015/16 on 25 May. Adjusted pre-tax profit was £211.3 million, up 0.3 per cent on the previous year. Group chief executive Chris Loughlin told Utility Week this was largely due to the strong performance of Viridor, whose profit before tax rose to £30.7 million, up 10.8 per cent on the previous year.
The group will publish a trading statement on 20 September.
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