Travis Perkins promotes CFO to COO, with new finance chief joining from Greencore

TRAVIS PERKINS has moved its chief financial officer to the position of chief operating officer, with his replacement joining from Greencore.

Tony Buffin, who joined the FTSE 100 builders’ merchant in 2013 as CFO, will have responsibility for the Travis Perkin’s plumbing and heating division, as well as leading its UK and Europe Toolstation business.

Robert Walker, non-executive chairman Travis Perkins, said: “Since joining the Group Tony has developed a high quality finance team across the organisation, helped drive and articulate our strategy for growth and our focus on returns, built strong relationships with our shareholders and analyst communities and significantly improved the cash and funding position of the Group”.

He will be replaced as CFO by Alan Williams, who is joining the group from Irish food business Greencore where he held the same position.

Williams played an important role as part of the team developing the business and increasing the market value from £200m to £1.4b over five years. His earlier career was spent with Cadbury Schweppes in a variety of commercial and operational finance roles in the UK, France and the US.

“We are fortunate that we have been able to attract such a strong senior finance professional with broad experience across multiple sectors. The Board is confident that Alan will contribute further to the development of the Group and returns to shareholders and we look forward to welcoming him to the team,” said Walker.

Greencore, has appointed Eoin Tonge as chief financial officer, effective from 3 October.

Tonge joined Greencore in 2006 as group capital markets director, with responsibility for treasury, investor relations, and group communications. He was promoted to group strategy and corporate development director in 2009.

Since 2014, he has been managing director of Greencore’s grocery division in the UK and has been a member of the group’s executive board.

Before Greencore, Tonge worked for Goldman Sachs for 11 years, holding finance, treasury and capital market roles in London, Hong Kong and New York.

Patrick Coveney, chief executive officer of Greencore, said: “In addition to his strong operational leadership of our grocery division, Eoin has played a critical role in shaping our group’s Food to Go strategy, led the delivery of the Uniq plc acquisition, executed several key acquisitions in the US, and spent nearly four years as a leader in our central finance team.”

Tonge will be replaced by Nigel Blakey as managing director of the grocery division, who is currently that division’s finance director.