SINGER & FRIEDLANDER said yesterday that John Hodson, its chief executive, plans to leave after 35 years with the independent merchant bank.
Mr Hodson, 58, who has been chief executive for 12 years, will depart at the end of the year. His replacement will be Tony Shearer, the former deputy chief executive and finance director of Old Mutual, who joined Singer last summer.
Katrina Preston, an analyst at Bridgewell Securities, said Mr Hodson’s departure was not a big surprise: “It might be what Singer needs. I would say there is a certain amount of apathy among the management team and it looks like that’s beginning to change now.”
Mr Hodson joined Singer in 1969 and worked his way up to head the investment management division, before taking on his present role.
News of his impending departure came as Singer reported a rise in first-half pre-tax profits to £25.3 million, from £14.7 million last time.
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When stripping out the contribution from Carnegie, the Nordic investment bank in which it recently disposed of its remaining stake, its pre-tax profits rose 39 per cent to £15.6 million.
The group’s core banking and asset management divisions both reported good growth. Operating profits in the banking unit rose 27 per cent to £11.2 million, while profits from asset management rose 63 per cent to £2.6 million.
“Business conditions have improved, but the end of the first half has seen a rather more cautious mood develop,” Mr Hodson said, adding that the group remained on the look out for acquisitions.
The shares, which have been underpinned in recent months by talk of a takeover by Kaupthing, the company’s largest shareholder, edged up 3¾p to 266p. Kaupthing last night declined to be drawn on whether it would make a bid.