Finance director appointment heralds new era for Speller Metcalfe
Pic: Finance Director, Judith Lewis (L), Non-Executive director, Chris Short (R)
Leading regional contractor Speller Metcalfe has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of Judith Lewis as its new Finance Director.
Judith joins the firm as a highly experienced finance director and qualified accountant with over 20 years’ experience in the construction industry. She began her career as part of a rail joint-venture owned by GEC Alsthom and Tarmac Construction, which later became Carillion Rail, before moving as finance director into Carillion’s Property Development Business, and later their Private Finance Business.
Andy Metcalfe, joint managing director for the company, said: “Judith is a fantastic addition to the business and we are incredibly pleased to welcome her to our operational board of directors.
“Her wealth of experience and strong track record within the construction industry will be instrumental to strengthening our financial resilience and our strategic plans to consolidate our strong trading position.”
On her appointment, Judith said: “I am delighted to have joined Speller Metcalfe and am looking forward to working with the team to further build upon our established reputation as a market-leading regional contractor.”
In spite of the stresses placed upon the industry over the last 18 months, the business has already demonstrated its financial resilience by maintaining its profitability during the pandemic, with the release of their most recent 12 months accounts for 2020-21 showing a pre-tax profit of £536K on a turnover of £104.7M.
Whilst the 2020-21 turnover was reduced due the impact of covid-19 and resultant project delays, the Company has a very healthy forward order book and forecasts turnover to return to pre-pandemic levels of £120M in this financial year.
In their drive to increase financial resilience across the business, 2020 also saw Speller Metcalfe establish an Audit Committee. Chaired by another recent appointment in experienced businessman and non-executive director Chris Short, the Committee is responsible for governing company financials, improving corporate governance and mitigating risk across the Group.
“Ultimately, our goal is to cultivate a robust and sustainable business model that is aligned to our expertise. The hard work and positive measures we are taking now to increase our resilience and futureproof the business will benefit our staff, clients and supply chain as we continue to thrive in the coming years.” continued Andy.
Speller Metcalfe’s former Finance Director, Mike Clarke, headed up the firm’s finance department for more than 20 years and will continue to work closely with Judith as he moves into a part-time role as Group Financial Controller.