Smiths arm names new boss
SMITHS Group’s troubled detection division, which supplies detectors for explosives and drugs, has appointed a new president.
Mal Maginnis, who currently leads the division’s management group, will replace Stephen Phipson, who left in May after the group admitted that trading had “fallen short of the board’s expectations”.
Announcing its interim results in March, the FTSE 100 firm said sales at its detection division dropped by seven per cent to £248m in the six months to the end of January, after a cargo screening incident in October where two ink cartridge bombs posted in Yemen were intercepted in Britain and Dubai, caused a delay in orders.
Analysts are wary of the division’s recovery prospects, citing its high exposure to government controlled spending as a weakness in the current environment.
Smiths chief executive Philip Bowman has taken direct charge of the unit during the transition period and will hand over the reins to Maginnis in the new year.
Phipson, who led the detection business for seven years, also announced yesterday that he would joining rival electronics firm Stadium as chief executive.