Stobart ends long search for new chairman

Stobart has ended its long hunt for a new chairman by appointing David Shearer as a non-executive director of the infrastructure company.

Shearer will join the board on 1 June as chairman-elect and will take over when Iain Ferguson stands down at the annual meeting in July. Shearer is chairman of Speedy Hire, the Scottish Edge Fund and Aberdeen New Dawn Investment Trust. He will step down from the job at Aberdeen New Dawn in September.

The owner of Southend airport has been looking for a new chairman since July 2018 as it sought to draw a line under a boardroom battle involving its former chief executive, Andrew Tinkler, trying to remove Ferguson. The dispute overshadowed the company for most of 2018 as both sides launched legal action against each other.

Ferguson said: "I am pleased to be handing over as chairman to David after the next AGM. He has considerable experience which will help chief executive Warwick Brady and the team to implement the group's strategy and deliver our ambitious growth targets."

Shearer, the former senior partner for Deloitte in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said Stobart had a good business but the company needed to unify shareholders behind its strategy. Andrew Wood, the senior independent director who led the recruitment process, will also leave at the next annual meeting.