Chris Weston leaves British Gas for Aggreko

Chris Weston has been named the new chief executive at Aggreko.


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By :  ,  Financial Analyst

British Gas head Chris Weston has announced he is leaving the company to take the chief executive post at Aggreko.

After just 15 months in charge of the energy business, Mr Weston revealed he is moving to Aggreko, where he will be paid an annual salary of £750,000 and £2.238 million in shares.

The departure of Mr Weston has cast doubt over the future of British Gas, as the company's parent firm Centrica is also losing its chief executive, Sam Laidlaw, in the coming months.

Mr Weston had been working at British Gas for more than a decade, moving up through the ranks of the company after joining it from Cable & Wireless in 2001.

Mr Laidlaw said: "Chris has made an important contribution to Centrica over 11 years, leading a number of our businesses, in the UK and North America. We will be sorry to see him leave but recognise that Aggreko offers a great opportunity for him."

Shares down

Shares in Aggreko fell yesterday morning (May 29th) on the back of the news, but are in better shape in the early stages of trading on the London Stock Exchange today. At 10:49 BST, the share price of the firm was down by only 0.18 per cent. Stocks in Centrica were 0.54 per cent down at the same time.

Chairman of Aggreko Ken Hanna stated that Mr Weston will be an asset to the business as its new chief executive due to the experience has has of working in the energy sector.

He added: "He has consistently succeeded in driving performance and growth in his career and we believe he has the skills and vision to continue Aggreko's growth and lead the group to the next level."

Centrica's finance director Nick Luff is also stepping down from his role, leaving the company in the difficult position of having to replace a number of senior executives at the same time. Rumours in the press have linked BP's Iain Conn with taking over from Mr Laidlaw as Centrica's chief executive, but the firm is yet to confirm his appointment and a number of other names have been reported to be in the frame.

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