One of the most successful — and best paid — FTSE 100 chief executives is to stand down. Ian Meakins, having spent the last six years turning round Wolseley, the plumbing supplies and builders’ merchants, is understood to be planning to retire next year.
The leading internal candidate to replace him is John Martin, his long-time lieutenant, who followed Mr Meakins from Travelex to Wolseley during the depths of the financial crisis.
Since joining in the summer of 2009 to replace his hapless predecessor, Chip Hornsby, Mr Meakins, 58, has overseen a more-than-tripling of the Wolseley share price. He has been rewarded handsomely for delivering the turnaround of a company that had been left horribly exposed to the downturn in American housebuilding.
Last year Mr Meakins was paid £5.6 million as he reaped the rewards of the long-term incentive plan that he signed up to when he arrived. Last year, those LTIP bonuses paid him £3.5 million. The year before he was paid £5.1 million as £3.1 million of LTIPs matured.
As news emerged of Mr Meakins’ departure, expected some time in 2016, Wolseley’s share price was not helped in a generally falling market. The stock closed 120p down at £40.90.
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Prior to a two-year stint at Travelex before joining Wolseley, Mr Meakins had been chief executive of Alliance Unichem before its merger with Boots. He had previously spent a dozen years at what is now Diageo.
Mr Meakins’ stewardship has not been without controversy. In 2010, in the early wobbly days of the previous coalition government, Wolseley left Britain, taking its jurisdiction to Switzerland for tax purposes.
An operational shake-up of the company and its underperforming parts saw Wolseley part company with businesses including Build Center and Bathstore, the retail chain, and pare down operations in France.
After a £1 billion rights issue cash call during the depths of the recession, Wolseley investors who kept the faith have been awash with cash, paid out £300 million last year on top of a £350 million special dividend in the previous year.
Wolseley declined to comment on Mr Meakins’ departure but confirmed that it was reviewing “the balance, experience and skills of the board”.