MARTIN Lightbody, the Scottish businessman who last year led a reverse takeover of his family's bakery business, has been named as the new chief executive of Finsbury Food Group.
Lightbody, who was the fourth generation family member to head up Hamilton-headquartered Lightbody Group, has been group strategic development director of Finsbury since the £37.5 million deal in January last year.
He will replace Dave Brooks, who
is to step down from the board of the bakery products and cake maker at the end of the month.
Lightbody, who is currently in China on business and was unavailable for comment yesterday, is a major shareholder in Finsbury, owning 26.6 per cent of the London-based company.
He is understood to have pocketed an eight-figure sum from the sale of Lightbody Group, which was founded in 1885 by his great grandfather, John Lightbody. The sale was classed as a reverse takeover under stock exchange rules due to the relatively small size of AIM-listed Finsbury's market value – some £25m – although it boasted annual sales of about three times that figure by the time of the deal.
Finsbury, which supplies premium cake and bread products to major supermarkets, employs hundreds of people at Lightbody's two Hamilton factories and also owns United Central Bakeries in West Lothian. Outgoing chief executive Brooks told The Scotsman: "Martin
has been in the industry for more than ten years, since he took over the Lightbody business in the 1990s and also has a good knowledge of the breads side of things since he became involved in Finsbury 18 months ago."
Chairman David Marshall added: "It has been a pleasure to work with Dave over the last six years and the group will miss his ability to not only drive the strategic vision of the group, but also support his team."
Brooks is to be paid £300,000 on his departure; the remaining exercise conditions on his share options will be waived and the exercise period on his share options will be extended.
John Duffy is also to join Finsbury as chief operating officer with immediate effect, while Paul Monk, a non-executive of the group since December 2002, is to take on "a more active role" in its commercial direction.
