Driver crashes after CEO resigns amid revenue worries

Driver Group's chief executive Dave Webster has stepped down from the role after five years, as the company admitted revenue visibility was limited and the UK had endured a slow start to the year.

The construction and engineering consultant has seen a number of dispute commissions being delayed and suspended between mid-December to mid-February in its Middle East business which has eroded the good start to the year.

In an address to shareholders at the company's annual meeting, chairman Steve Norris said a watchful eye was also being kept on Qatar where "workload and pressure on fees continues to be an issue".

On the upside, in the last fortnight some significant appointments have been secured and a number of the delayed or suspended Middle East commissions have kicked into gear, which he said meant the coming months management should see Driver recover "much if not all of this shortfall".

Norris, who said savings were being put in place to both the cost of sales and overheads across the group, said the UK disputes and project services businesses both had a slow first quarters.

The UK project services business was hit by oil and gas related clients scaling back their operational requirements but this has turned around lately, he added.

"From January the mix of commissions has been more favourable and our project services business is securing higher work volumes meaning that a return to expected performance was achieved in January. However, we do not currently expect to recover the first quarter shortfall."

On the CEO departure, Norris added that Webster will become a non-executive director, with head of the Initiate infrastructure division Gordon Wilkinson promoted to the top role.

Investors were unimpressed, with shares in Driver falling to their lowest level since last June, down 16% on the day to 62p by 1300 GMT on Wednesday.