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Building supplies firm Travis Perkins PLC has launched a search for a new chief executive as it announced Pete Redfern was leaving due to ill health, six months into the role. Shares in Travis fell 7.4% to 586.50 pence each on Monday afternoon in London. Chair Geoff Drabble said the boss had a ‘brief but promising tenure’ at the helm of the company which has ‘had its issues in recent times’. He said the board of the company supports his decision to prioritise his health, with the chief stepping down immediately. Redfern became chief executive in September last year, moving from the top job at house builder Taylor Wimpey PLC. He was tasked with driving up profits for the group which has been hit hard by a UK housebuilding slump. Drabble said: ‘The board and I are very sorry that Pete’s brief but promising tenure as CEO has been brought to a premature conclusion for reasons beyond his and our control, and which none of us had anticipated. ‘On a personal level, and on behalf of the board, I would like to thank Pete for his valuable contribution kick-starting the group’s efforts to refocus on the customer experience and re-energise our field operations. ‘We have a great business which has had its issues in recent times, but which I am confident can build on its inherent strengths and deliver value for investors and all of its other stakeholders.’ In October, Travis which also owns the Toolstation chain cut its yearly profit outlook for the second time in three months after seeing its sales decline. Redfern said the group had ‘allowed itself to become distracted and overly internally focused’, which had led to a weaker financial performance. He said he was focused on finding ways to make the business run more efficiently and to ‘turn and face the anticipated recovery in the UK construction market’. Travis has been taking action to trim costs, including cutting staff in its head office and regional branches, closing its loss-making Toolstation business in France, and shutting down warehouses. It is due to publish its full-year financial results next week. Press Association: Finance By Anna Wise, PA Business Reporter source: PA Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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