Meggitt’s chief executive Stephen Young is set to retire in 2018 as revenue growth flatlines

The chief executive of aerospace and defence firm Meggitt will retire at the end of April 2018 amid a slower ramp up of the firm’s new civil programmes.

Stephen Young will leave after five years in the role and will be succeeded by current chief operating officer Tony Wood on 1 January.

In a trading update for the third quarter, the FTSE 250 firm revealed revenue was flat on an organic basis, excluding the effects of mergers and acquisitions as well as foreign exchange rates, due to slower than expected growth of new civil aerospace programmes. Meggitt said this will continue into the fourth quarter.

Revenues at the company’s military unit fell five per cent on an organic basis, but Meggitt expects “strong performance” in the fourth quarter due to good growth in orders.

The firm, which has faced a bumpy couple of years of trading, said it was on track to meet its full-year guidance for organic revenue growth and underlying operating margin improvement.

“We are pleased with progress across the business despite challenges in some of our end markets,” Young said.

“Growth accelerated in civil aerospace during the third quarter and we expect to see further improvement in the fourth quarter, particularly in military where we have seen strong order growth in the last three months. Our key strategic initiatives continue to deliver and we are well positioned for the future.”

On the appointment of Wood as the firm’s new boss, Young said: “Since his appointment last year, Tony has made an important contribution to the company, bringing significant operational expertise, broad leadership experience gained over 30 years in senior aerospace roles and a fresh perspective which has and will continue to accelerate momentum across our strategic initiatives.”

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