FTSE 250 FD steps up to FTSE 100 Smiths Group

CHRIS O’SHEA is to move across to Smiths Group as finance director, leaving the CFO role at FTSE 250 engineering firm Vesuvius.

O’Shea will join the FTSE 100 technology equipment provider in September, after three years at Vesuvius.

Smiths’ FD Peter Turner stepped down from the role last week, and interim finance chief Rob White will continue in the role until O’Shea’s arrival. White will return to his Smiths Medical global finance role in September.

O’Shea’s appointment caps a busy time for Smiths in finance, which last week closed a €600m (£440m) senior bond offering. The notes are to be used for general corporate funding and to pay some of its existing debt.

Chief executive Philip Bowman said: “I am delighted to welcome Chris to Smiths. He arrives at an exciting time as we continue to invest in our Engineered for Growth programme to accelerate top-line performance. His strong finance skills and corporate experience of the engineering and multi-national energy sectors will greatly benefit our business.”

O’Shea said: “Smiths has been a byword for engineering excellence for more than 150 years and I am thrilled to be joining a global leader with ambitious growth plans across a comprehensive range of products and markets. I look forward to becoming part of Smiths exciting future and working with the team to deliver the growth initiatives.”

His base salary at Smiths will be £495,000 and he will be eligible for an annual bonus of up to 150% of the base salary, one-third of which will be deferred into Smiths Group shares. He is expected to forfeit some bonus and long-term incentives from Vesuvius, for which Smiths will compensate him with 71,938 shares on the first and second anniversary of his Smiths start date.

He will also receive pension allowance of 255 of his base salary.