Former Wolves owner Steve Morgan to quit housebuilder Redrow
Former Wolves owner Steve Morgan is quitting Redrow, the housebuilder he founded and later rescued during the depths of the economic crisis a decade ago.
The surprise news was broken this morning just before Redrow's annual shareholders meeting. Mr Morgan will retire at the end of March next year, at the age of 65, virtually 10 years to the day since he returned to the business he originally founded in 1974.
Mr Morgan had left Redrow in 2000 to pursue other ventrues, buying Wolves from Sir Jack Hayward for a nominal £10 in 2007.
But he remained a Redrow shareholder and, as the credit crunch hit the housing market in 2008, watched the housebuilder rack up losses and axe half its workforce.
He bought up enough shares to head a boardroom putsch, taking over as executive chairman, clearing out former executives and moving Redrow back towards building family homes rather than apartments.
With Mr Morgan at the helm the company has gone on to record results, with big profits and thousands of new homes build across the UK, including the Compton Park estate in Wolverhampton.
But his time at Wolves was more of a rollercoaster, seeing the club win promotion to the Premier League in 2009 for just three season before successive relegations left the club in the First Division before its return to the Championship.
Mr Morgan sold the club to Chinese group Fosun for £30m two years ago.
But he has retained links with Wolverhampton, as a key supporter for The Way youth scheme in the city centre that he helped found. And he was a guest in the directors' box when Wolves won promotion to the Premier League in March.
Redrow's current chief executive, John Tutte, is set to take over as executive chairman next March.
Steve Morgan said: "I am delighted that John has accepted the invitation to succeed me as chairman. I have worked closely with John over the last 10 years and believe that his appointment will ensure the stability and continuity so important to a business like Redrow.
"By the end of March 2019 it will be exactly 10 years since I returned to the Group and I am proud of what has been achieved over this time. Since I founded Redrow in 1974 we have had many important milestones. Just two weeks ago we completed our 100,000th Redrow home and 2018 will see us complete 6,000 homes in a calendar year for the first time, both significant milestones for Redrow and for me on a personal level.
"We have built an exceptional team at Redrow with strong succession plans in place across all our key disciplines. John Tutte has been an outstanding CEO of the business over recent years and is the ideal successor to me as chairman.
"As a major shareholder I will look forward to watching the continued progress of the business under John's leadership."
John Tutte added: "The board is very grateful to Steve for his inspired leadership of Redrow since he founded the group in 1974, a period in which the group has changed much and grown substantially. Steve has made a huge contribution to the industry over many years and his leadership since he returned to Redrow in 2009 has been immense. We wish him every happiness for the future."
Meanwhile, in a trading update for Redrow today, Mr Morgan said: "For the first 18 weeks of the current financial year, Redrow has traded in line with expectations. We continue to see good demand in our regional businesses with most sites sold well in advance. However, the London sales market has remained subdued affected by excessively high Stamp Duty tax and Brexit uncertainty."
Redrow's order book has expanded by 11 per cent to £1.2 billion, and the average sell price of Redrow's homes has risen 4.6 per cent to £388,000.
Mr Morgan added: "Redrow has an industry leading, highly desirable product, an excellent forward sales position and a very healthy balance sheet. We are in great shape to deliver another year of progress for the business."
