Centrica Announces Board and Senior Management Changes

Centrica plc (the ‘Company’) announces that after nearly 4 years with the Company Mark Hodges, Chief Executive, Centrica Consumer will be leaving on 28th February 2019 to take up a new role as Chief Executive of ReAssure, Swiss Re’s closed book business which plans a stock market listing in 2019. In line with succession plans, Centrica is pleased to announce that Sarwjit Sambhi will become CEO, Centrica Consumer and will join the Centrica Board as an Executive Director effective from 1st March 2019.

Mark’s previous career was in insurance and financial services and, after delivering significant underlying improvement in the performance of Centrica’s Consumer division against a very challenging environment, he has been offered the rare opportunity to lead a new company in a sector where he has spent the majority of his career.  Given sufficient time for an orderly transition, the Company has waived the remaining part of Mark’s 12 months notice period.

Sarwjit joined Centrica in 2001 from Booz Allen & Hamilton, and has held a number of senior leadership positions in strategy, finance, trading, power generation, exploration and production and most recently the Consumer division where he has been Managing Director, UK Home for nearly 3 years.

Centrica is today also announcing that after 22 years with the Company, its General Counsel & Company Secretary, Grant Dawson has elected to retire from the Company on 31st March 2019.

Centrica is pleased to announce that Justine Campbell will become General Counsel & Company Secretary with effect from 1st April 2019. Justine will become a member of the Centrica Executive Committee and attend the Centrica Board.  Justine joined the Group from Vodafone in January 2013 as General Counsel for British Gas and has deep legal and regulatory experience in both the energy and telecommunications sectors.

Over a long career with the Company, Grant has helped to guide the Board and executive team, shape the strategy and capabilities of Centrica, and overseen significant portfolio repositioning including a number of major transactions, while guiding the Group through a series of legal and regulatory changes, particularly in the UK. 

Iain Conn, Group Chief Executive, said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank both Mark Hodges and Grant Dawson for their significant contribution to Centrica over the past four years and twenty-two years respectively. 

Mark has been a powerful driver of change and performance within Centrica and has put the foundations in place for the Consumer businesses.  He has built a strong team and the Consumer Division is set up well to deliver against our strategy.

Grant has been a member of the Centrica Executive Committee and attended the Board since joining the Company in 1996.  He has seen the Company through a number of price controls and regulatory uncertainty over the years and has also played a key role in all the major portfolio developments of the Group.

I am very grateful to both Mark and Grant and wish them both, and their families, all the very best for the future.

I would like to congratulate Sarwjit and Justine on their new respective roles and know they will help to take the business through its next phase of transformation.”

On behalf of the Centrica Board, Chairman Rick Haythornthwaite said:

“I would like to thank Mark and Grant for their commitment and contribution to the Company and to the business of the Board in a period in which we have shifted the strategy towards the customer against a challenging backdrop of volatile commodity prices, regulatory intervention and intense competition.

I would also like to welcome Sarwjit to the Board, and Justine to the position of General Counsel and Company Secretary”.   

There is no other information required to be disclosed under Listing Rule 9.6.13R.

Notes

Remuneration: 

The following information is provided in accordance with section 430(2B) of the Companies Act 2006.

Sarwjit Sambhi

Sarwjit’s remuneration package will consist of a basic salary, benefits and variable incentive arrangements which are in line with Centrica’s remuneration policy.

There are no special arrangements in respect of his appointment.

The key elements of Sarwjit’s remuneration package are as follows:

  • Base salary of £620,000;
  • Continued pension accrual in the Centrica Pension Plan on the same basis as other plan members, subject to an earnings cap of £141,600, plus a salary supplement of 10% on the difference between capped salary and full salary, also aligned with the defined contribution available to the wider workforce.

Incentives and other benefits will be in accordance with the Remuneration Policy set out in the Group’s 2017 Annual Report and Accounts and approved by shareholders at the 2018 AGM.

Mark Hodges

Following Mark’s resignation, the Company has waived its right to receive contractual notice and he will not receive any payment in lieu.  His other remuneration arrangements will follow the Remuneration Policy set out in the Group’s 2017 Annual Report and Accounts and approved by shareholders at the 2018 AGM.

Accordingly, Mark will not be eligible for any further awards under the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).  In line with the plan rules, any existing AIP deferred shares unvested at the point of leaving will vest on the usual vesting dates, with relevant malus and clawback provisions continuing to apply.

All Long Term Incentive Plan (LTIP) awards which are unvested at the point that Mark leaves the company will lapse in full.