Tuesday 04 June 2019 8:02 am | Updated: Tuesday 04 June 2019 9:39 am

Intu appoints ex-Crest Nicholson exec as new finance chief

Troubled retail operator Intu has appointed ex-Crest Nicholson finance chief Robert Allen as its new chief financial officer.

Allen, who left the FTSE 250 housebuilder in 2018 after two years, will join Intu on Monday.

Interim finance chief Barbara Gibbs will resume her director of finance role.

Previously Allen held finance roles at British American Tobacco, Charterhouse Bank and Coopers & Lybrand.

Intu chief executive, and former chief financial officer, Matthew Roberts said: “I am delighted that Robert is joining us.

“He will bring to intu his extensive and highly relevant experience of refinancings, M&A, treasury, IT and investor relations, helping drive our strategy of delivering strong underlying centre performance, adapting to the fast-changing retail environment and making smart use of capital.”

Allen’s appointment comes after Roberts was promoted to chief executive following the departure of former boss David Fischel.

Fischel announced he would step down following a failed £3.4bn takeover bid by Hammerson last year.

A second takeover bid from a consortium led by billionaire shareholder John Whittaker collapsed in November after the group abandoned its offer.

Last month the property firm, which owns Manchester’s Trafford Centre, said its retail income was forecast to decline by four and six per cent rather than one to two per cent.

Roberts said the company expected the “remainder of 2019 to be challenging” due to company voluntary arrangements and a slowdown in new lettings.