WNG Worthington Nic

RNS Number:0747E
Worthington Nicholls Group plc
19 September 2007



                         Worthington Nicholls Group plc

                    Notification of board changes and update



Worthington Nicholls Group plc ("Worthington Nicholls", the "Company" or the 
"Group"), installers of air conditioning, heating, ventilation and chilled water
systems, announces the following changes to the board of directors of the
Company (the "Board" or the "Directors").



Interim Finance Director



The Board is delighted to announce the appointment of Chris Neilson as interim
Finance Director with immediate effect. Chris will take over responsibility for
all financial matters whilst the Company seeks a permanent candidate for this
role.

Chris has advised a number of companies on financial reporting and strategy
having previously worked for two AIM listed companies. He joined Synexus
Clinical Research plc ("Synexus") in September 2005 as finance director to
strengthen its board of directors prior to it flotation in November 2005. During
his time with Synexus he helped to deliver the initial phase of a buy and build
strategy through overseeing the acquisition of two businesses in central Europe
and the maiden results in line with City expectations.

Prior to working with Synexus, Chris spent seven years with Inter Link Foods plc
("Inter Link") as both finance director and business development director. He
was the finance director of Inter Link during the time of its AIM flotation and
when it raised #21 million from three share issues. During his time with Inter
Link, it integrated several acquisitions in UK and Europe and its annual
turnover increased from a break-even level of #5 million to #98 million with
profits of #5.9 million.

This appointment will bring significant public company experience to bear on the
Group's finances whilst a permanent, full time finance director can be
identified with a suitable background and experience.

As part of this reorganisation of the finance function within the Group, Tim
Hunt, the current Finance Director, will step down from the Board. Since being
appointed in January 2007, Tim has focused his attentions on dealing with the
City, reviewing internal systems and procedures and dealing with acquisitions.
As a result of the significant amount of work involved in these areas
particularly for a newly floated company with a highly acquisitive strategy, Tim
and the Board have decided that, in the best interests of the Group, his focus
should be on the financial operational aspects of the business and he has
therefore agreed to step down from the Board, to allow a new finance director to
be appointed to deal with the City. Tim will remain with the Group going forward
in a senior role as Head of Finance.



Operational and accounting policies reviews



As part of his new role as Chairman, Alastair Stoddart has implemented two
reviews aimed at assisting the Group in identifying areas for improvement and to
ensure the adoption across the Group of best practices identified from within
newly acquired companies.

The first is a strategic and operational review of the Group focused on organic
growth opportunities, integration of the acquired businesses, margins and
ensuring the adoption of best practices within the Group. The review is being
carried out in two stages; Mr Frank Holland with a strategic focus and Gary
Price with an operational focus. Frank Holland was a founding director of MITIE
Air Conditioning (North) Limited and is a business consultant to the building
services industry on an international basis. He has many years' experience
within the building services industry. Gary Price was formerly Managing Director
of Project Air Limited which was acquired by Worthington Nicholls in June 2006
and historically achieved gross margins significantly ahead of those achieved by
other Group companies. As part of the acquisition, Gary was contracted to
Project Air Limited until 30 June 2007.  He has since agreed to remain with the
Group and now has specific responsibility for identifying and implementing
robust operating practices in relation to project planning and margin
enhancement throughout the Group.

The Board is also conducting a review of the Company's accounting policies, the
manner in which they are applied and their suitability to the recently enlarged
Group. Shareholders will recognise that the Group has changed considerably in a
very short space of time through five acquisitions and the Board considers it
prudent to undertake such a review at this time.



Further Acquisitions



The Board would also like to clarify the position regarding further
acquisitions.

Whilst cash balances were c#12.5m as at 17 September 2007, the Board will not be
considering making further acquisitions in the short term. This is to allow the
Directors the time to ensure the acquisitions made to date are sufficiently
integrated into the Group.

The acquisition strategy previously outlined to the Company's shareholders does,
however, still form a significant part of the longer term strategy of the Group.



Trading statement



The Group's current financial year ends on 30 September 2007. The Board intends
to issue a trading statement in the second half of October 2007 outlining, in
broad terms, the expected outturn for this financial year. At that time the
Board will provide an update on the progress of the reviews that are referred to
above.

Information required under Schedule 2, Para (g) of the AIM Rules:

Christopher Neilson (aged 53) is currently, or has been in the past five years,
a director of the following companies:


Current:                                  Past:
Manweb Communications Limited             Inter Link Foods Plc
                                          Inter Link Food Group Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 1) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 2) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 4) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 5) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 7) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 8) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 9) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 10) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 14) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 15) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 16) Limited
                                          ILG Realisations (No. 17) Limited
                                          Butlers Pantry Foods Limited
                                          Hepworth and Whittles Limited
                                          Iatro Limited
                                          Farmhouse Bakery Holdings Limited
                                          Study Recruitment Services Limited
                                          Synexus Clinical Research plc



The contents of this announcement include the full disclosures required under
Schedule 2, Para (g) of the AIM Rules.







Enquiries, please contact:



Worthington Nicholls Group                     0870 609 1829
Alastair Stoddart, Chairman
Chris Neilson, Finance Director

Smithfield Group                               020 7360 4900
Katie Hunt / Miranda Good

Blue Oar Securities                            020 7448 4400
Rhod Cruwys / Romil Patel




END









                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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