RS Group finance boss admits ‘lack of judgement’ as he leaves FTSE 100 group after relationship with colleague
- David Egan has stepped down as CFO of RS Group after seven years
- Jane Titchener has been appointed as the company’s interim chief financial officer
RS Group’s chief financial officer has resigned after having a personal relationship with another employee.
David Egan, who had been chief financial officer of the blue-chip industrial products supplier for seven years, admitted to having “some shortcomings in his judgment” when announcing his immediate departure from the company.
Jane Titchener, the company’s vice president of corporate development, has been appointed interim chief financial officer of RS Group until a permanent replacement is found.
Departure: RS Group finance director David Egan has resigned after admitting to having a personal relationship with another employee
The London-based group did not provide details on the extent of the relationship, but its chairman, Baroness Rona Fairhead, said Egan “recognizes the importance of leaders setting and adhering to exemplary standards.”
Australian-born Egan had only just finished a six-month stint as acting chief executive following Lindsley Ruth’s departure last November for “personal reasons”.
RS Group’s annual sales have doubled during Egan’s tenure due to significant expansion in all regions, market share gains and the acquisition of smaller rivals such as John Liscombe and Needlers.
For the financial year ending March 2022, the company reported revenue grew by more than a quarter to £2.55 billion thanks to solid online trade and demand for industrial products.
Trading remained strong for the next nine months, but has slowed since the start of 2023 due to a broader cost-of-living crisis and declining sales in the Americas and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to joining the company, formerly known as Electrocomponents, Egan was a senior finance officer at chemical company Alent and Swedish-American welding equipment manufacturer ESAB.
He also held positions at building materials distributor Hanson and parent company HeidelbergCement, which bought the former in 2007 for £8 billion.
Egan said: ‘Following a detailed assessment by the Board, I acknowledge that there have been some assessment deficiencies on my part and that my actions have not met the high standards expected of RS leadership.
“It is therefore right that I resign from my position. I would like to thank all the people at RS for their support and commitment during my tenure.
“The company is in a strong position, I am confident in the Group’s prospects and I wish Simon and the rest of the RS team every success in the future.”
RS Group was founded just before World War II as Radiospares and supplied parts to radio repair shops. In the 1950s, it began selling parts for televisions as the medium quickly gained popularity.
Over the next few decades, it transformed into a distributor of other companies’ electrical and industrial goods, launched into multiple new markets, and completed numerous acquisitions.
The company now stocks approximately 700,000 products and sells to more than 1.2 million customers annually in 80 countries.
RS Group shares were down 2.1 per cent to £8.94 by mid-Wednesday, though they have grown by about 58 per cent over the past three years.