Persimmon chief retires after 30 years (From York Press)

Persimmon chief retires after 30 years

11:33am Tuesday 8th January 2013 in Business news By Julie Hayes, Business editor

THE chief executive of Persimmon is to retire after 30 years with the business.

Mike Farley, who has been group chief executive at the York-based housebuilder for seven years will retire at the company's annual general meeting on April 18.

Jeff Fairburn, currently group managing director and chief executive of the North Division, will succeed Mr Farley.

Nicholas Wrigley, chairman, said: "Mike Farley has been an outstanding chief executive and has made an enormous contribution to the development of Persimmon over many years. The announcement in February 2012 of our new long term strategy and £1.9 billion capital return plan over nine and a half years is a testament to his strong leadership, strategic clarity and long-term planning. He will leave Persimmon with our gratitude and best wishes for his retirement.

"Jeff Fairburn is a talented and experienced executive who knows the Persimmon business extremely well. He has been with the group for 23 years, serving as North Division chief executive for six years, on the board for over three years and as group managing director for the last year. He played a key role in the development of the new strategy and will now play the central role in its delivery."

Mike Farley said: "It has been a great privilege to be group chief executive for the last seven years. The company is in great shape and well positioned to deliver on our new strategy, and I'm confident that it will become an even stronger and bigger business over the coming years."

The business also said in a trading update, in advance of its final results for the year ended December 31, that revenues had increased by 12 per cent to about £1.72 billion.