Simpson steps down as Watkin Jones CEO

Richard Simpson has stepped down as chief executive of BTR and PBSA developer Watkin Jones. The board has asked the group’s chief investment officer, Alex Pease, to take on the role of interim chief executive, with effect from 19 July 2023, while it searches for a permanent replacement. During this period, Pease, who has led the Watkin Jones’ investment activities since 2013 and joined the board in 2022, will head the group executive team, working closely with CFO Sarah Sergeant. Chair Alan Giddins said: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Richard for his contribution to the group over the last five years and in particular his leadership of the business through the challenges of the Covid pandemic.” He added that he hoped the change would “help enable the group to regain momentum ahead of market conditions improving.” In a trading update published today, the developer said: “The recent increases in interest rates and prevailing economic uncertainty have impacted negatively on market liquidity. As a result, there is now a greater degree of risk over these transactions completing by the year end.” It added that it “would not expect to materially improve” on underlying pre tax profits recorded in H1 of £2m. “Our current expectation is that these challenging market conditions will persist into FY24, and against this more cautious backdrop, our FY24 [pre tax profit] is likely to be in the range of £15m to £20m.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews