Andrew Oswell Bede Davies (born October 1963) is a British businessman, and CEO of

Kier Group Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialised in concrete enginee ...

Early career

Educated at the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

, Davies joined

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

in 1985. At the company he became Managing Director Land Systems in 2004, Group Strategy Director in 2008 and Managing Director Maritime in 2011. He went on to be CEO of

Wates Group Wates Group Ltd is a family owned construction, property services and development companies in the United Kingdom. History Edward Wates established his eponymous business in 1897 as a Streatham housebuilder. In the 1920s and 1930s, it expande ...

in 2014 and was appointed CEO designate of

Carillion Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018. Carillion was created in July 1999, following a ...

in October 2017. Originally scheduled to join the financially troubled business in April 2018, Carillion announced in December 2017 that it had brought forward his start date to 22 January 2018. However, Carillion went into

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

one week before he was due to take up his post. During 2018, Davies continued as a non-executive director of aerospace and defence contractor Chemring, and also walked several long-distance paths including the 186-mile

Pembrokeshire Coast Path The Pembrokeshire Coast Path (), often called the Pembrokeshire Coastal Path, is a designated National Trail in Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. Established in 1970, it is a long-distance walking route, mostly at cliff-top level, with a total ...

Kier Group

In January 2019, after turning down job offers elsewhere, Davies was linked with the vacant CEO post at the similarly financially troubled

, officially confirmed on 19 March 2019, with Davies taking up the post on 15 April 2019, when he announced a strategic review of the group's structure. He later said Kier "was fundamentally a very strong operational company but had lost their way strategically and had taken a number of missteps which had proved, frankly, catastrophic." Less than two months later, on 3 June 2019, Kier issued a profit warning causing its share price to fall over 40%, and the fall continued on 14 June after reports that Kier would sell its housebuilding division. On 17 June, Davies confirmed the housing division sale, plans to exit other markets, and 1,200 job cuts. Kier's share price fell 17% to 108p, a level not seen since the company's 1996 flotation, and its shares were subject to renewed '

shorting In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the market value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of the more common long position, where the investor will profit if the market value ...

' with one analyst saying "every time Andrew Davies opens his mouth ier’sshares seem to dive by 18% and the consensus in the market is that Kier will go bust." At the group's AGM in November 2019, shareholders objected to Davies's £2.6m annual remuneration package and an associated long-term incentive scheme.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Andrew British businesspeople 1963 births Living people Alumni of the University of Sheffield