Workspace: London office provider’s chief to retire after 16 years at the helm
Flexible office provider Workspace will kick off the recruitment process for a new chief executive, following the retirement of its current boss.
Graham Clemett, who has served nearly 16 years at the firm, joining initially as chief financial officer, said he will retire once a successor is found.
Recruitment for a new head will be led by chairman Ducan Owen.
Clemett said: “After 16 hugely enjoyable years at Workspace, firstly as CFO and the last five years as CEO, it feels like the right time for me to announce my retirement.
“The company is in great shape and well positioned in the current market. ”
Separately, the company which serves small and medium-sized enterprises said like-for-like rent per square feet rose 1.7 per cent in the third quarter to £43.6m.
The number of letting secured was down slightly from the year before, to 104 from 110.
Like-for-like occupancy at its building was also broadly flat at 88.2 per cent in the third quarter, compared with 88.6 per cent during the quarter before.
Clemett said: “We have delivered another resilient operational performance in the third quarter, highlighting the attraction of our distinctive, flexible offer.
“A good start to the fourth quarter, combined with a positive trading outlook and strong balance sheet, underpins our confidence for the year ahead.”
The boss previously told City A.M that Wework’s bankruptcy would “definitely give the company some benefit”.
He said: “Just in terms of their [Wework’s] model..they don’t own their buildings, we own all our buildings, they lease out. They had expensive leases, and they couldn’t really offset that with the income they could make off their customers.”
“The demise of Wework will give us some benefit because their customers will move into our space later on.”