Hunting promotes operations chief Johnson as new CEO

Hunting has promoted operations director Jim Johnson to group chief executive as Dennis Proctor retires from the energy services company at the start of September.

Johnson, a US citizen who will be based in Houston, Texas, has been at the FTSE 250 group since 1992 and in the operations role since 2011 and has been managing director of US operations.

As part of his responsibilities, he has managed the day-to-day running of Hunting's global operations, with regional managers in Africa, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North America reporting directly to him on all matters.

As MD of the American business the company said he was "instrumental" in developing Hunting's product offering and service capabilities.

Chairman Richard Hunting expressed the delight that is usual in these situations and highlighted Johnson's "unique knowledge of the group's global operations, close relationships with our key customers and commitment to Hunting over many years".

He added: "The nomination committee considered internal and external candidates from the global energy manufacturing and service industries and firmly believes that the right choice has been made in what has been a thorough process."

For his part, Johnson said: "Hunting is a fantastic company with excellent products, a highly skilled and loyal workforce and a strong reputation of quality and service within the energy industry. I look forward to the challenge of taking the group through its next phase of growth, building on the foundation laid by Dennis over many years."

Hunting will publish interim results on Thursday 24 August, having last month issued a pre-close trading statement that said the performance in the first half benefited from the increase in onshore drilling in the US, particularly in the shale oil regions such as the Permian Basin in West Texas.

Growth in activity since the end of 2016 meant Hunting's perforating systems business reported results ahead of management's expectations.