Mouchel chair quits after just four days
STRUGGLING infrastructure group Mouchel was plunged into further chaos last night after its interim chairman quit after barely four days in the job.
David Sugden resigned after failing to win the backing of Mouchel’s lenders to fill the position permanently. He had only replaced Bo Lerenius on Thursday when the firm warned it could breach its banking covenants.
Sir Michael Lyons, the senior independent director and a former chairman of the BBC Trust, has been named interim chairman.
Yesterday the school and roadbuilder Mouchel, which has an £87m debt pile, said Sugden had left after “further discussions with the board and other key parties about the best way” to secure its future.
City A.M. understands Sugden did not want to be a stop-gap and that Mouchel’s main lenders, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, did not offer him the position permanently.
Mouchel said: “The lending banks have informed the board that they are fully supportive of the board and its executive team.”
Earlier this month Richard Cuthbert resigned as chief executive after Mouchel said a statistical error and mounting risks to contracts would cut about 60 per cent from this year’s profits.