SSE’S Ian Marchant to step down

By ERIKKA ASKELAND
Published on 23/01/2013 14:07

The boss of one of the UK’s biggest energy companies announced plans to quit the business today after more than ten years at the helm.

Ian Marchant, who joined Perth-based SSE in 1998 when it was formed out of the merger of Southern Electric and Scottish Hydro Electric, will be replaced by his deputy Alistair Philips-Davies in July.

SSE, which has around ten million customer accounts and is the UK’s second-largest generator of electricity, is one of just five mainstays of the FTSE 100 index to have delivered better-than-inflation dividend growth every year since 1999.

Chairman Lord Smith of Kelvin said Marchant had given exemplary service as chief executive, a role held since 2002.

He added: “He has been a chief executive of the highest standard, giving outstanding leadership to SSE and to the energy sector as a whole.”

Marchant, who joined SSE’s predecessor company Southern Electric in 1992, said he believed the time was right for a change for both himself and SSE: “I am looking forward to new challenges – whatever they may be.”

SSE shares were more than 3 per cent lower after the announcement, although some of this decline was due to the shares trading today without the right to the latest dividend.