Capita chief executive Jon Lewis to retire from outsourcing giant

Jon Lewis, the ‘turnback king’ who helped revive Capita after a series of public scandals, has announced his intention to retire.

The outsourcing giant said Lewis, 61, will step down as chief executive at the end of 2023 but will remain in the business until July next year.

Lewis initially joined as CEO in December 2017, taking over from Andy Parker after he departed amid a succession of profit warnings, debt-laden overexpansion and the group’s exit from the FTSE 100.

Capita’s reputation had been further damaged by failed contracts, such as the delayed installation of an IT upgrade for the London congestion charge, the failure to meet British Army recruitment targets, and the capture of too few fare evaders. television licences.

Hired as a problem solver, Lewis had previously led successful turnarounds at engineering services companies Landmark Graphics Corporation, Halliburton, and Amec Foster Wheeler.

Following his arrival at Capita, the company’s share price hit a 15-year low when it scrapped a dividend, declared another profit warning and launched a £700m emergency rights issue.

But the group also began to sell off a significant part of its operations, trimming the workforce from 73,000 to about 50,000 and focusing more on high-tech.

Although the company’s turnover has continued to fall steadily, its net debts have plummeted from more than £1.1bn to around £85m at the end of last year.

It also won some major government contracts, including one worth £925 million to provide training services to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

David Lowden, president of Capita, said Lewis “has shown outstanding leadership and determination in rebuilding Capita from the ground up.”

He added: ‘It is now a purpose-driven business that Jon has refocused, strengthened and grown again, while rebuilding customer trust and improving colleague engagement. He should be proud of his achievements.

Lewis’s departure comes a few months after he warned that a hack, which affected some of his biggest clients, could cost the group £20m in turnover.

The Welshman will be replaced by Adolfo Hernández, vice president of global telecommunications at the Amazon Web Services cloud computing platform.

Hernández has had around three decades of experience working in the technology industry, including as CEO of translation service provider SDL until its 2020 acquisition by rival RWS Group.

He has also worked for the French communications equipment company Alcatel-Lucent, Sun-Microsystems, and spent much of his early career at IBM.

Hernández said: “The group is in solid financial health and is well positioned for accelerated revenue growth in both its public service and customer experience markets, with a strong pipeline of future opportunities.”

capital shares they were up 0.9 percent, or 0.26 pence, at 28.2 pence on Monday morning.

They remain well below their mid-2015 peak of around 800p.