Barely 12 months into his role, Pablo Libreros – appointed as "new managing director to lead aggregates business into the future" – is off already. Mr Libreros has moved to LafargeHolcim France. No news of any replacement yet.
Another case of musical chairs, or rats deserting a sinking ship??
It was only last year that we posted AI appoints new head of Aggregates division, again:
Readers may remember that in July [2017] AI appointed Mike Pearce as managing director of its Aggregates division, only to see him move on to Breedon two months later.
And of course, it was only in December that AI lost another CEO:
During the time that AI has been trying to get its act together in East Devon – to gain permission to butcher a successful farm and risk water supplies for more than 100 people for the sake of a relatively small amount of sand and gravel that could only be processed off-site 23 miles away – the company has gone through three CEOs, and will now be looking for its fourth.
We asked:
Is this simply an indication of how long the Straitgate Farm fiasco has been staggering on, or an indication of deeper problems?
Certainly there seems to have been an attrition of directors recently. In the last few months two other directors have gone: Duncan Reaney, Growth and Innovation Director – who only joined in May 2018, with "a portfolio covering Marketing, Sales Excellence, Internal sales and Pricing" – and James Atherton-Ham, General Counsel – who amongst other duties, "was responsible for the planning and estates and geological services teams".
Closer to home – as we have previously posted – people behind the Straitgate Farm proposal have been leaving too. In fact, the regional director who had been driving the Straitgate project for so many years, before moving elsewhere in the company, can now be found working for a competitor – part of the same company that purchased AI’s bagging operation at Uffculme. Small world.
