Amec Foster Wheeler boss Samir Brikho leaves after merger leads to squeeze
Oil engineer Amec Foster Wheeler has parted company with high-profile boss Samir Brikho after the board lost confidence in him following a cash squeeze.
Amec’s board, led by chair John Connolly, met on Sunday night to make the decision.
Finance boss Ian McHoul will moonlight as interim chief but said he does not want the job full time.
A search for a successor outside the group has begun.
Amec hit the rocks following the turmoil in the oil market and upset shareholders by halving its dividend in November.
The shares have slumped 49% over the past 12 months but rose 3.6% today, adding 15.5p to 403.8p.
Brikho engineered the £1.9 billion merger of Amec and Foster Wheeler in February 2014.
The debt-fuelled deal should have been his crowning achievement but the slump in the commodity market put a squeeze on the company’s ability to pay back debt.
It is trying to refinance £1 billion of debt and recently had its credit rating downgraded to one notch above junk.
