FirstGroup appoints Intertek CEO as new chairman

11th Mar 2015 08:53

Transport operator FirstGroup has confirmed Wolfhart Hauser, chief executive of Intertek Group, will succeed John McFarlane as chairman.The group said that Hauser, who has been chief executive of the FTSE100 group for the last decade and is also a non-executive director of Associated British Foods and of Reed Elsevier, will join the board in May before being officially appointed in July.McFarlane, who is set to leave in April to become Barclays' chairman, joined the company in December 2013, soon after a period of heavy losses had threatened to result in a potentially damaging credit rating downgrade."I am pleased to be joining FirstGroup and I look forward to working with the executive team and the board to improve the group's returns, resilience and growth prospects to levels befitting its leading market positions in the UK and North America," said Hauser.Analysts at Shore Capital welcomed the appointment, describing the outgoing Intertek CEO as a man with a proven track record." Hauser's performance at Intertek has clearly been impressive and in our opinion investors will be pleased that the uncertainty over the role has now been removed," they said in a note.FirstGroup shares were up 2.08% to 100.50p at 09:05 on Wednesday.