The chairman of QMC’s axed cleaning contractors Carillion has left the company after their share prices fell by 40 per cent.
Hospital bosses initially raised question marks over how clean Nottingham City Hospital and the Queens Medical Centre in October 2016 under Carillion.
A campaign group took a 12-foot inflatable rat to a protest outside the QMC in November 2016 after reports a rat was spotted on the loose in the City Hospital kitchen.
Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, which runs the QMC and City Hospital, then announced a few days later they were parting company with Carillion following a trust board meeting.
Earlier this year, the trust said it would move cleaning services back in house and outlined their intention to recruit 50 extra cleaning staff.
Carillion’s board revealed today (Monday July 10) the company’s operating profit for the first half of the year is lower than expected and a deterioration in cash flows on a number of construction contracts.
As a result, the board announced intentions to ‘undertake a comprehensive review of the business’ and ‘significant actions had already been taken to reposition the business’.
Non-executive chairman of Carillion Philip Green said: “Richard Howson has stepped down as group chief executive and from the board with immediate effect.
“Keith Cochrane, previously our senior independent non-executive director, will take over as interim group chief executive, while a search is underway for a new group chief executive.
“We are fortunate to have had Keith as a non-executive member of our board as he has considerable plc CEO experience.
“Richard will stay with the group for up to one year to support the transition.”
Mr Green said the company will already miss out on some of its annual targets.
He said: “Despite making progress against the strategic priorities we set out in our 2016 results announcement in March, average net borrowing has increased above the level we expected.
“That means we will no longer be able to meet our target of reducing leverage for the full year.
“We have therefore concluded we must take immediate action to accelerate the reduction in average net borrowing and are announcing a comprehensive programme of measures to address that, aimed at generating significant cashflow in the short-term.
“In addition, we are also announcing that we are undertaking a thorough review of the business and the capital structure, and the options available to optimise value for the benefit of shareholders.
“We will update the market on the progress of the review at our interim results in September.”
