Drax Group finance chief to retire after three years at power generator

The chief financial officer of power generation business Drax Group will retire from corporate life next year.

Andy Skelton joined Drax as its finance chief in January 2019, replacing interim chief financial officer Dan Jones, following a three-year stint at financial markets software developer Fidessa Group.

His appointment came as the company was reducing its use of coal ahead of a national deadline to phase out the highly polluting fossil fuel from Britain’s energy system.

The Drax plant in North Yorkshire, once the largest coal-fired power station in Western Europe, will stop using coal in 2023, almost 50 years after it began generating power.

Drax is now one of the largest biomass power stations in the world, generating enough electricity to meet around 6 per cent of the UK’s energy needs.

However, the company’s environmental credentials have come under widespread scrutiny, with environmental lobby groups claiming Drax is the UK’s biggest source of carbon emissions.

Drax burns millions of tons of wood pellets each year at its power plant, about 80 percent of which are imported from forests in the United States and Canada.

The FTSE 250 company has received billions in subsidies to help convert its plant to run on biomass, but dozens of environmental organizations including Greenpeace have called on the UK government to stop giving Drax any more public funding.

Skelton said in a statement on Wednesday: “I am choosing to retire from corporate life to spend more time with my family and pursue other personal interests knowing that we have built a firm foundation from which Drax can execute its strategy and continue to develop.” opportunities for value creation and growth.

“I hope to continue contributing until 2025 until my successor is established.”

Prior to Fidessa, Skelton worked at Cambridge-based semiconductor company CSR until its acquisition by Qualcomm in the summer of 2015.

He also held senior financial positions at Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson, including two years as chief financial officer of its Croatian subsidiary, Ericsson Nikola Tesla.

Last month, Drax said it expected its full-year core earnings to hit the upper end of market forecasts thanks to high volumes of pellet production and biomass generation.

Will Gardiner, Drax’s chief executive, said the group was sorry to see Skelton leave “but we fully respect his decision to retire from corporate life and wish him the best for the future.”

He added: “Andy has played a pivotal role in the growth and development of the group, establishing a strong financial foundation on which we will continue to build, as well as an experienced financial team.”

Drax Group Actions They were down 0.6 per cent at 654.5p on Wednesday morning, but have risen around 48 per cent in the last 12 months.