Mitie’s boss steps down after profit alert

All change: Ruby McGregor-Smith is stepping down as chief executive of Mitie

10 October 2016

Ruby McGregor-Smith on Monday said she is to hand over the reins of struggling outsourcer Mitie to former British Gas boss Phil Bentley just weeks after a disastrous profit warning.

McGregor-Smith, a Conservative peer who has doubled Mitie’s revenue and profits in her time at its helm, said her decision was influenced by one of her kids saying: “I want my mum back.”

The first Asian chief executive of a FTSE 250 company told Mitie’s board late last year that she wanted to depart in 2016, after 14 years at the outsourcer, which runs government detention centres and cleans airports.

She has held the top job since April 2007.

Of Mitie’s profit warning last month, which sent shares crashing 26%, McGregor-Smith told the Evening Standard: “Obviously the economy has got a lot worse, and it’s a difficult time. But I’m coming up to a decade at Mitie and that’s more than enough."

“This decision was very much driven by me. I started this job when my kids were six and four years old, and now they’re nearly grown up. One of them said to me recently, ‘I want my mum back.’ So I’m going to take some time out to be with them. Balancing having young kids with running a listed company is hard.”

McGregor-Smith said she would work with Bentley, who ran Cable & Wireless Communications until its £3.5 billion takeover by Liberty Global this year, for a month’s handover. He will join Mitie in November, and take over on December 12. She said she will think about her next move “over the next few months” but didn’t rule out another chief executive role.

Ex-British Gas boss Bentley could be seen as a controversial choice for Mitie, which has been under pressure for low pay of its care staff while handing out big boardroom bonuses.

Bentley was highly criticised for leaving British Gas, after failing to get the top job at Centrica, with a £13 million pay-off amid rising household bills.

Canaccord Genuity’s Matthew Walker warned Bentley’s arrival could add to the pressure at Mitie: “The timing of this announcement is likely to create some uncertainty, with management change in the sector often a catalyst for further issues to be identified.”

Mitie shares rose 4% on the news, before settling up 0.8p at 194.9p.

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