Wolseley chief executive steps down with immediate effect

Wolseley has swept in a new chief executive after Chip Hornsby announced this morning that he was “stepping down” from the post with immediate effect.

The company made a pre-tax loss of £970m in the six months to the end of January.

When that financial horror was announced in March, Wolseley also revealed that to keep the business on an even keel it was raising £1bn from shareholders, using that money to pay down debt which stood at £2.5bn.

Ian Meakins, the new blood, is aged 52 and was until recently chief executive of Travelex, a foreign exchange and payments business. 

Prior to that Meakins was chief executive of Alliance UniChem until its merger with Boots in July 2006.

Hornsby notched up 31 years in the construction materials distribution industry.

He joined Wolseley through its acquisition of Ferguson in 1982.

Wolseley’s debt problems are the result of a massive spending spree in recent years.