LONDON • 3rd MAY 2023: Walstead Group, Europe’s largest web offset printing business, has appointed Neil Johnson as Group CFO and board director with effect from 1 June following the departure of Julian Rothwell.
Walstead conducted an extensive Europe-wide search for a replacement CFO, seeking a candidate with significant international experience including proven leadership, accounting, finance, operational scalability, systems, and executional expertise cultivated within large manufacturing and service businesses.
Paul Utting, Walstead’s CEO, commented, “Neil is a seasoned professional with an accomplished and distinguished finance career and has demonstrated successes in key financial and operational disciplines required of a world-class CFO. His profound experiences at the international CFO level will be integral and will support many of the initiatives, challenges, and the anticipated growth that we want to deliver in the next five years. I am excited to welcome Neil to the leadership team.”
Mark Scanlon, Walstead’s chairman, commented: “We are sad to see Julian leave after six years of impeccable service. He has been a key member of the team that has successfully navigated the group through the commercial ravages of Covid, energy, and raw material cost proliferation. We expect Neil to support Walstead’s next phase of growth as we expand our service offering and head towards €1 billion revenue. I look forward to working with Neil.”
Neil Johnson has more than 30 years of experience in finance, operations, systems, and accounting. He was Group CFO for Sparrows Offshore Services Group, a c.£250m revenue, 2,000 employee offshore energy support services group from 2014 to 2023, and prior to that, CFO at Promethean World plc for over eight years.
Neil is a member of ICAEW (ACA) and he has a first class honours in B.Eng Electrical & Electronic Engineering.