QinetiQ appoints Rolls-Royce's David Smith CFO

FTSE 250 defence technology company QinetiQ appointed Rolls-Royce director and chief financial officer David Smith, who will take up the role of CFO in the new year.

He replaces David Mellors, who will leave QinetiQ on 31 December to join Cobham, a technology services company, as CFO.

Smith, a graduate of Cambridge and Warwick universities, was previously CFO of the technology company Edwards and CEO of Jaguar Land Rover and held a number of senior finance positions at Ford.

Chief executive Steve Wadey said Smith has extensive executive experience in blue chip companies and he was “confident that he will make a significant contribution to delivering sustainable growth at QinetiQ".

Smith added: "QinetiQ is a science and engineering company with unique capabilities that are particularly well matched to emerging themes in global markets. I've been struck by the ambition of its leadership team and am excited about helping QinetiQ to realise its potential."

Shares in QinetiQ were down 0.56% to 229.70p at 0917 BST.