Military technology firm Chemring ousts boss for 'lack of knowledge'
Chemring has discharged boss Mark Papworth after just 18 months in the post, after deciding he did not know enough about defence.
The military technology firm, whose products include decoy flares for jet fighters, jettisoned Papworth with immediate effect, replacing him with Michael Flowers, a veteran of the Australian army.
Papworth began a chastening turnaround process of staff cuts and asset sales, as the defence contractor wrestled with deep cuts to defence spending by Western governments.
Axed: The military technology firm, whose products include decoy flares for jet fighters, jettisoned Papworth with immediate effect
But he also failed to get the company out of its habit of issuing profit warnings and the board is understood to have decided that he didn’t know enough about defence to lead it back to growth.
Chairman Peter Hickson said a ‘different set of skills’ was needed, hailing Flowers’ ‘extensive knowledge and understanding of the defence markets in which we operate’.
The scale of the challenge facing Flowers was underlined by a £72m loss at the half-year, when including the performance of the European munitions business sold last year for £134.5m. Excluding that business, Chemring would have made a profit of £5.1m, compared to a loss of £12.7m at the same stage of last year.
Chemring’s stock slumped 11 per cent, before recovering slightly to close down 17.5p at 190p, as traders digested the hefty half-year loss, the surprise departure of Papworth and a cut in the interim dividend from 3.4p to 2.4p per share.
Flowers’ military experience is thought to be key to his appointment, with Chemring keen to install someone able to talk authoritatively to the people in charge of defence department purse strings.
While Western nations are cutting back on defence spending, Flowers will be tasked with winning new business in Latin America, the Middle East and the south Pacific, industry sources said.
He has also been lauded for securing a good price in the sale of the munitions operation, a process that he led.
Chemring will now focus on building sales of its most successful products including ejector seats, devices that detect improvised explosive devices and countermeasures used by aircraft as decoys against heat-seeking missiles.
Flowers spent 22 years in the Australian army, largely in logistics and procurement, and has previously worked with defence giant BAE Systems.
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