www.hemscott.com/news/comment-archive/item.do?id=39850 -
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Published on: 11/28/2007
Last Visited: 1/6/2008
We find the announcement of the departure of Martin Bettington a little intriguing, as he says agreed with the board to stand down.Indeed, the phrase stand or step down appears three times in a short statement that makes no reference to resigning.
Bettington has been with Biffa for nearly 20 years, previously when it was part of Severn Trent and then as an independent company.
His decision to depart comes just days after it was revealed that Biffa rejected a takeover approach from two private equity funds.Perhaps he was a little keener on the proposed deal than his fellow directors.
While the change at the top is an unexpected addition to the interim results, further comment on why a takeover approach was rejected is conspicuously absent.
News of Bettington's intended departure accompanied results for the 26 weeks to 28 September showing pretax profits edging up from ,41.6m to ,42m on revenue up from ,376.5m to ,395.0m.