This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
LEIGHTON Holdings has appointed a new chief executive following the surprise resignation of David Stewart who was at the helm for a tumultuous eight months.
At the same time, Stephen Johns has been elected succeed David Mortimer as chairman, who resigned after 14 years with the company. Johns has been an Independent non-executive director and chairman of Leighton’s Audit Committee since 2009. He is also a non-executive director of Westfield and Brambles Limited, and chairman of Spark Infrastructure.
Leighton also appointed Hamish Tyrwhitt as CEO. He will takeover from David Stewart immediately who was in charge of Leighton in the last eight months, where the company downgraded its results four times and eventually posted a loss of $408 million.
“David Stewart has done a very good job stabilizing the company, bringing to account complex issues that needed to be dealt with such as Brisbane Airport Link and Victorian Desalination projects and addressing issues in our Middle Eastern Joint Venture.
“The board is confident that the business has a stable base from which to build and we believe that new leadership is now required for Leighton to move forward and capitalise on the significant growth opportunities that lie ahead. Hamish Tyrwhitt is well credentialed to lead the Leighton Group through the next exciting phase of its growth,” Johns said.
Tyrwhitt started his 26-year career with the group at John Holland and has subsequently worked for Leighton International, Leighton Contractors and Leighton Asia. He was appointed managing director of Leighton Asia in 2007 and, in 2011, was given responsibility for the Indian and offshore operations of the group.
Tyrwhitt said that he was honoured to be given the responsibility.
Leighton expects to return to profit next year and re-confirms guidance for the 12 months to 30 June 2012 of an after tax profit of between $600-650 million.
Australian Property Journal
