McCarthy & Stone COO John Tonkiss to be interim chief exec

Retirement housebuilder McCarthy & Stone said on Thursday that it is conducting a formal search process to appoint a replacement chief executive officer following its announcement earlier this month that Clive Fenton is retiring at the end of August.

McCarthy, which will consider both internal and external applicants, said that chief operating officer John Tonkiss will assume the role of interim CEO from 1 September until a replacement has been found.

In the meantime, chairman Paul Lester will spend more time with the business, helping the executive team to develop the new strategy for the group.

At 0840 BST, the shares were down 0.4% to 98.49p.