Crawshaw appoints new CEO and CFO

AIM-listed value butcher Crawshaw announced the appointment of a new chief executive and new chief financial officer on Friday.

Jim Viggars will replace Noel Collett as CEO, while Nick Taylor will replace Alan Richardson as CFO with effect from 21 May.

Viggars has more than 30 years’ experience within the meat industry across procurement, customer strategy and agriculture. Between 2005 and 2015, he was the head of the fresh meat department at UK supermarket Asda. Prior to this, he was buying manager for Asda’s pre-packed pies division and was previously a fresh meat buyer for the group.

Taylor joins Crawshaw from Janan Meat, the UK's premier dedicated halal lamb and mutton meat processor, where he has been CFO since January 2017. Prior to this, he was finance director of the egg products division at Noble Food Group.

Chairman Jim McCarthy said: "I am pleased to welcome Jim and Nick to Crawshaw. They both have clear commercial acumen and careers which are steeped in the industry. I am confident that their combined expertise, experience and outlook will help drive the group forward."

At 1100 BST, the shares were up 30% to 6p.