A search is underway for a new chairman at Asco Group following the surprise departure of both the oilfield services firm’s chief executive and chairman.
The Aberdeen-based company remained tight-lipped last night over the details of why chief executive Derek Smith and chairman Billy Allan were exiting the business.
It said that Mr Smith was leaving to “pursue other opportunities”, while Mr Allan had “indicated his intention to step down”, but made no further comment.
Alan Brown, former chief executive at London-listed support services firm Rentokil Initial, has been appointed to succeed Mr Smith and has already laid out his plans to expand the range of services offered by the company and the number of countries in which it operates.
Mr Brown spent 25 years at Unilever, including leading its businesses in China and Taiwan, before becoming chief financial officer at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), where he is credited with helping to sell the company.
A spokesman for Asco tsaid: “An announcement on Mr Allan’s replacement will be made in due course.”
Mr Allan became chief executive of the group in 2006 and took over as chairman the following year when Mr Smith gained the top job.
Since the group was taken over by private equity firm Doughty Hanson in 2011, Mr Allan and Mr Smith have expanded Asco’s focus from the North Sea to international growth including in markets in Africa, Australia, the Middle East and North America.
The business, in which management still owns a stake, now employs 2,000 staff at 35 locations in 16 countries, with Mr Smith hailed for last year helping to win a multi-year supply base support contract in Tanzania from BG Group.
Last year revenues grew by 13.3% to £768.6million, while profits edged up by 2.7% to £37.6million.
Mr Brown said: “Asco has an enviable reputation for providing high levels of service to its clients and supporting the development of their businesses.
“I aim to build on this reputation by extending both the range and geographic reach of Asco’s services.”
He added: “With its roots in Aberdeen, Asco has become an international business with a strong brand built on a strong service ethos.
“I would like to thank my predecessors, Derek Smith and Billy Allan, for their significant contribution to developing this platform, on which we will continue to build.”
Asco began life during the North Sea oil boom in 1967 as Aberdeen Service Company, expanding into Canada and Norway in 1995 and then the Gulf of Mexico in 1999.
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