Keith Turner to replace Ralph Waters as F&P Appliances chair

Keith Turner to replace Ralph Waters as F&P Appliances chair

by Paul McBeth

Feb. 28 (BusinessDesk) – Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings has tapped former Meridian Energy chief Keith Turner to replace outgoing chairman Ralph Waters, as it prepares for a weak full-year result.

Turner was appointed a director last November, and will chair the board from tomorrow.

Waters flagged his retirement at last year’s annual meeting, ending nine years on the whiteware manufacturer’s board. Fletcher Building Ltd. chief financial officer Bill Roest will fill Waters’s board seat from tomorrow.

The governance shuffle comes as F&P Appliances prepares for a weak full-year result, having cut its guidance twice in the first half of the financial year.

It expects the appliances division to report earnings before interest and tax of between $15 million and $25 million, and the finance arm to post EBIT of about $35 million.

The maximum $60 million figure is some $18 million lower than the forecast at its annual meeting. Waters took over the chairmanship on an interim basis when Gary Paykel stepped down in November 2009.

Paykel’s resignation coincided with long-serving chief executive John Bongard’s departure to fight cancer. The manufacturer has struggled to regain traction after the global financial crisis sapped household’s ability to buy big-ticket items, and it was forced to strengthen its balance sheet in a deeply discounted share offer, which saw China’s Haier Group take a 20% stake in the company.

The shares were unchanged at 57 cents in trading, and have crept up 1.8% this year. The stock is rated a ‘hold’, according to a Reuters survey of six analysts, who expect the manufacturer to post EBIT of $53.1 million in the 12-month period.

(BusinessDesk) 18:02:22

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