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The former group chief financial officer for Royal Mail has been hired as Kier chairman to replace outgoing chair Philip Cox who will stand down in January next year.
Matthew Lester held his role at Royal Mail from 2010 to 2017, and has recently held non-executive director roles at Man Group, Barclays and Capita.
Alongside his role as chair for the group Lester will also act as chairman of the nomination committee and a member of the remuneration committee.
Commenting on his appointment, Lester said: “I am delighted to be joining Kier as its Chairman. I look forward to working with the Board to deliver the Group’s strategic priorities and in continuing to build the foundations for its future.”
Cox announced plans to stand down in September after Kier posted pre-tax losses of £245M for the year to the end of June.
Kier blamed loss-making contracts and restructuring costs for the losses, and had written off over £300M in exceptional charges in what chief executive Andrew Davies described as a “difficult year”.
Annual revenues fell slightly to £4.49bn, down from £4.51bn in 2018, with operating profit also down from £187M to £124M. Operating margins fell from 4.1% to 2.8%.
Group operating profit swung from a £134M profit in 2018 to a £127M loss, with profits before tax falling from £106M in the previous year to £245M loss in the latest results.
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