Outgoing Serco chief Rupert Soames sells £3m stake
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Outgoing Serco chief Rupert Soames sells £3m stake ahead of his planned retirement
Outgoing Serco boss Rupert Soames made more than £3million when he began selling his stake in the group before retiring.
Soames, a grandson of Winston Churchill who served as chief executive of the outsourcing giant for eight years, sold nearly 1.9 million shares on Monday at an average price of 162p each.
He will still own 8.7 million shares, worth approximately £14.2 million based on the current share price after the sale.
Cashing in: Rupert Soames, who served as Serco chief executive for eight years, sold nearly 1.9 million shares Monday at an average price of 162p each
The sale of part of his stake came after Soames announced in September that he would step down as chief executive by the end of the year.
He will be replaced by Mark Irwin, 57, head of Serco’s UK & Europe division.
Soames will remain a consultant and will receive part of his £850,000 base salary and annual bonus, before retiring next September.
The 63-year-old is widely credited with turning the fortunes of the FTSE 250 group, which was embroiled in scandal when he took over the helm in 2014.
But Soames was also criticized for the profits from running Test and Trace centers.