THE man who led York veterinary products business Animalcare through the acquisition of a European counterpart has stood down from his role as chief operating officer.

Animalcare Group, based at York Business Park, announced yesterday that Iain Menneer was stepping down from his role with immediate effect.

His departure comes less than a year after AIM listed firm completed the reverse takeover of Belgium-based Ecuphar NV, resulting in combined revenues of £84 million

Chris Cardon, chief executive officer at Animalcare, described the move as a “personal decision” by a Mr Menneer, adding: “We thank Iain for all his work on the integration of Animalcare and Ecuphar.

“He leaves the business with our best wishes. We have the platform in place to create a leading Pan-European animal-health business.”

Mr Menneer joined Animalcare in December 2003 and held marketing and business development roles; notably working on the product development pipeline, before being promoted managing director.

In January 2013 Mr Menneer became chief executive office following the departure of Stephen Wildridge, and later Chief Operating Officer following the takeover of Ecuphar.

Mr Cardon said: “We have worked very hard to put everything in place to enable us to continue in a way follow Iain’s departure that won’t affect the business going forward.

“We are very sad to see him go but we have to respect his decision and focus our efforts on continuing to growth the group across the new enlarged European network.”

The new enlarged group operates in seven countries in Western Europe and distributors in 50 export territories.