– UK, Burnley – Velocity Composites plc (AIM:VEL), the leading supplier of advanced composite material kits, providing engineering value-solutions for the global aerospace industry, announces the following executive and non-executive changes to the Company’s Board:
- Jonathan (Jon) Bridges, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, to move to the newly created role of Chief Technology Officer, which will be an Executive Board role, with immediate effect;
- Mark Mills, the Company’s Non-Executive Chairman, to become Executive Chairman on an interim basis with immediate effect until a new Chief Executive Officer is appointed;
- Alan Kershaw, the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, to leave the business but to work with the Company in the short term to help identify a successor and effect an orderly handover; and
- Meera Parmar joins the Company as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.
Chief Technology Officer
This newly created role will be focussed on three areas which directly complement Jon’s considerable experience and expertise in the industry and which will ensure that he can focus on providing the most value to the business. The CTO will be responsible for business development (including securing new customers and developing business with existing customers), the research and development department (with a particular focus on new products and service offerings where Velocity can further disrupt and add value to the composites supply chain) and on collaborations with large established companies in the Aerospace industry who could partner with Velocity as the Company looks to expand into the global marketplace.
About Meera Parmar
Meera Parmar, a Chartered Accountant and qualified tax practitioner, brings over 28 years’ audit and finance experience to the Company. She started her career at KPMG and during her 10-year tenure fulfilled various roles in the tax and audit practices, before joining Lathams as a Senior Tax Manager. Between 2003 and 2013, Meera worked at Cowgill Holloway LLP and in 2007 became a Tax Partner and lead advisor in Transaction Tax and Private Client Tax; encompassing M&A tax advisory, raising capital, restructuring, exit strategy planning and business & share valuations amongst other functions. More recently, Meera has built up a business consultancy practice advising owners of SMEs across a wide range of industry sectors on business strategy and turnaround, capital raising, accessing SME tax incentives and wider financial matters.
Meera is a Malaysian native and holds a BSc. degree in Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science. Meera will Chair the Remuneration Committee.
Mark Mills, Executive Chairman of Velocity said: “The Company is growing but not at the rate the Board or shareholders would like to see and the Board has unanimously agreed that additional capacity is required at the Executive level to drive the Company forward. As a founder of the company Jon is fully committed to Velocity and feels it is the right time to hand over the CEO responsibilities whilst he concentrates on adding value in securing new business, developing innovative products and developing collaborative relationships to capitalise on the large pipeline of new business already in progress. Allowing Jon this focus will help the Company to meet its growth ambitions and ensure that we seize the opportunities presented before us.
“Whilst we undertake a search for the new Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, I will move to the role of Executive Chairman on an interim basis to deal with the distinct challenges of managing the growth of a multi-site ambitious company, driving the revenues and profitability and as importantly, building closer relationships with the Company’s shareholders.
“I am delighted to welcome Meera to Velocity. I look forward to working with Meera whose keen analytical skills, commercial acumen and wide relationships will help the Board to drive performance. The addition of an additional qualified Chartered Accountant to the Board will be very beneficial and Meera’s skills will be very complementary to Brian Tenner who was recently appointed.
“Finally, Alan has been a loyal and committed member of the Velocity team since before the Company’s IPO and the Board offers Alan our sincere thanks and appreciation for his efforts and wider contribution. We wish Alan well for the future and are appreciative that he has agreed to work with us to hand over to a successor in an orderly fashion.”
About Velocity Composites
Velocity Composites is a manufacturer of advanced composite material kits for the aerospace industry, delivering engineered waste reduction solutions for its customers to build aircraft components using less time and material. The Company’s customers include multi-national manufacturers of composite parts and assemblies, who in turn deliver to the world’s leading civil and military aircraft manufacturers. The Airbus A320, A330, A350, A380, Eurofighter Typhoon, F35 Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing 737, 787 and V22 Osprey are all constructed using parts manufactured from Velocity’s kits. The Company’s business model reduces the operating costs of preparing composite materials ahead of their usage in the construction of an aircraft part and as such, its offering is disposed to being self-financing for aircraft parts’ manufacturers. Velocity’s services are seeing increased demand as the global aircraft industry enters a more-for-less era. Velocity currently has customers in the UK and Continental Europe.
For more information : http://www.velocity-composites.com
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