Vosper regroups as profits dip

WARSHIPS builder Vosper Thornycroft has poached an outsourcing specialist as its new chief executive as it moves to become more reliant on support services and not just on Royal Navy contracts.

Vosper is bringing in Paul Lester, construction and facilities management managing director at Balfour Beatty. Lord Wakeham, the Tory grandee implicated in the Enron scandal, is stepping down as £ 44,000-a-year chairman to deputy chairman for one further year. Current chief executive Martin Jay will step up to the chairmanship.

Outsourcing now accounts for two thirds of Vosper's business and has flattened margins. Operating profits rose 14% to £34m in the year to 31 March on turnover up 26% to £479m. Pre-tax profits fell 7% to £31m, after one-offs and goodwill write-offs from its acquisitions spree. The dividend is up nearly 8% at 39p a share.

The recent Royal Naval contract to help design and build the new Type 45 destroyer will see Vosper leave its Woolston home near Southampton, transferring 1,000 jobs to the Portsmouth naval base facility along the coast.

In the past year Vosper has bought US military outsourcing specialist Griffin Services, and Merlin Communications, which provides communications facilities for the likes of the BBC World Service.