New shock for Shire as chief departs
DRUGS maker Shire has suffered another blow when its finance chief announced his departure just days after US rival AbbVie dropped a £32billion takeover bid.
After plunging by a quarter last week, the FTSE 100 company’s shares fell 23p to 3757p.
We are very grateful to him for his interim leadership over the past seven months and his many contributions to Shire in almost 10 years with the company
It said its interim chief financial officer James Bowling would leave the Dublin-based group early next year to join Footsie water company Severn Trent.
He took on the role in February when finance director Graham Hetherington stepped down.
Shire said it would start searching for a replacement immediately and chief executive Flemming Ornskov added: “James has helped build and lead a high-quality finance team at Shire. We are very grateful to him for his interim leadership over the past seven months and his many contributions to Shire in almost 10 years with the company.” Bowling will replace Mike McKeon who is retiring next spring.
Severn Trent chief executive Liv Garfield said Bowling, an accountant who also worked at Ford, would bring mergers and acquisition, business transformation and financial management, experience. Severn Trent shares rose 20p to 1920p.