Inland Homes welcomes second chief executive in under 12 months

LAURA MCGUIRE

INLAND HOMES has revealed its new chief executive plus plans for a £4m acquisition of North Country Homes.

The London-listed real estate development firm has appointed Jolyon Harrison as head of the company. This is the company’s third CEO in a less than a year, with former chief Stephen Wicks stepping down last September following the issuing of a £37m pre-tax profit loss warning.

Inland then appointed former Galliard boss Don O’Sullivan, who quit a month into the role after he and the group reached a “mutual agreement”.

Upcoming boss Harrison has been in the industry for over 50 years and served as chief of construction group MJ Gleeson between 2014 and June 2019.

It comes as the group also waves goodbye to its chief financial officer and acting CEO Nishith Malde.

The news came as Inland also revealed plans to acquire accessible housing firm North Country for a consideration of £4m.

However, the firm reported more positive signs in June, with revenues up on last year and ebitda of £33.6m, up from £18.8m last year.

Matalan said it expects an ebitda guidance range of £60m-£65m for the full year, up from £30.6m last year.

The retailer reported a number of challenges during the quarter, including a decline in online sales after it shifted to an ecommerce platform run by online retailer THG. Customers also showed signs of favouring physical stores over online. “From an online perspective there has been a market trend that has shifted demand back towards stores,” Matalab boss Jo Whitfield said. The results come after the firm was rescued by a debt-for-equity swap with its lenders in January after it accrued £500m in debt.