SThree board member steps down amid shareholder pressure

The chair of SThree’s audit committee has stepped down amid shareholder concerns over her involvement with failed outsourcer Interserve.

Anne Fahy announced on Tuesday that she had resigned from SThree’s board with immediate effect and would not be seeking re-election at tomorrow’s Annual General Meeting.

Sources close to the company said that shareholders had raised concerns about Fahy’s role as chair of Interserve’s audit committee from 2013 until its collapse six years later.

Such were the financial issues at the company that the Financial Reporting Council handed out fines of more than £700,000 to Interserve’s auditor Grant Thornton and one of its partners.

Fahy had previously faced a revolt from SThree shareholders in 2019, but retained her position.

A spokesperson for SThree said: “Considering concerns raised around Anne’s re-election at the group’s AGM, the board has consulted with our shareholders and have mutually concluded with Anne that it is the right time for her to step down from the board.”