Costain appoints former E.ON chief as chairman

Construction and engineering firm Costain announced the appointment of Dr Paul Golby as its new chairman, replacing David Allvey who will retire at the annual general meeting in May after seven years.

Golby is chairman of air traffic control group NATS Holdings Limited and a non-executive director of National Grid. He was formerly chairman of AEA Technology Group.

He spent 13 years at E.ON – formerly PowerGen – including nine as chief executive, during which time he oversaw the transformation of the company from the smallest UK player into one of the country's leading integrated electricity and gas businesses.

Golby said: "I am honoured to have been asked to join Costain as Chairman. It is a great British engineering success story with a strong heritage, outstanding brand and strong market positions. I look forward to playing a part in delivering further success as the group accelerates its growth agenda."

At 0840 BST, Costain shares were up 0.4% to 347.50p.