Hawthorn Leisure boss Carroll to step down

12-Sep-2019 - Last updated on 12-Sep-2019 at 15:09 GMT

Leadership change: Hawthorn Leisure’s Gerry Carroll has announced he will step down from his role as CEO on 1 October

Hawthorn Leisure – the community pub operating arm of NewRiver REIT – has announced that CEO Gerry Carroll will step down from his role with effect from 1 October.

Carroll, who will be replaced as Hawthorn CEO by current executive chairman Mark Davies, will continue to serve on the NewRiver Pub REIT board as a non-executive director.

Davies already has main board executive responsibilities for the company’s portfolio of more than 650 pubs – which represented 21% of total NewRiver assets by valuation as of 31 March 2019. In addition to taking on Carroll’s role, Davies will continue his role as NewRiver REIT’s chief financial officer.

As reported by The Morning Advertiser (MA), NewRiver, the UK REIT and pub owner, acquired the 298-strong Hawthorn Leisure for £106.8m in May 2018 – completing the integration of the community pub operator in February 2019.

What’s more, NewRiver’s pub net property income rose from £12.7m to £21.9m – a 72% increase – despite the FTSE 250 company’s overall loss of £36.9m after tax, according to financial results released in May 2019.

Business in excellent shape

Discussing the changes, outgoing CEO Gerry Carroll commented: “Having successfully grown Hawthorn Leisure and overseen the operational integration of the pub portfolios over the past 18 months, I have decided that the time is appropriate for me to step down as CEO.

“The business is in excellent shape, with a first-class team, including key members from the original management team and I very much looking forward to supporting the business in the future in a non-executive capacity.”

Mark Davies, who will replace Carroll, added: “Gerry has achieved significant success in establishing Hawthorn Leisure as a market-leading pub platform and adeptly oversaw the sale of the business from Avenue Capital to NewRiver.

“I would like to thank Gerry for his expert contribution to the business thus far and we are delighted that the company will continue to benefit from Gerry’s expertise and sector knowledge in his new role as a non-executive director.”

As reported by MA, NewRiver hopes to repeat the £2.8m spent on projects within its pub estate over its previous financial year.