Mining technology company Weir Group and the energy services company Wood have announced new chief financial officers.

Brian Puffer will take up the role at Weir and join the board on 1 April at the latest.

He is currently chief financial and risk officer of BP Integrated Supply and Trading and has over 30 years’ experience in driving commercial and financial performance in both industry and as a partner in PwC.  

His annual salary will be £500,000, while he is also in line for stock awards, potentially worth between £2.9 million and £3.5m, as compensation for forfeiting incentives on leaving BP.

Mr Puffer, a dual British and American citizen, will succeed John Heasley who, as announced on 27 July, will be leaving Weir to take up a new role as finance director of Anglo American.

Mr Heasley will leave at the end of this month.

In a trading update, Weir reported a steady performance in the July-to-September quarter. Group orders were down by 2% on a constant currency basis. Original equipment orders dropped by 8% in the third quarter against a tough comparator, while spare parts recorded a 1% drop. Quarterly revenue and operating margins were said to be up year-on-year.

Jon Stanton, chief executive, said: “Our third quarter performance is in line with our expectations. We capitalised on high levels of activity in our mining markets, growing mining aftermarket orders, maintaining good momentum in original equipment and expanding our installed base to support future aftermarket growth.

“We also executed strongly, growing revenue, expanding our operating margins and realising the initial cost savings from our Performance Excellence transformation programme.

“Going into the fourth quarter, we have a strong order book and operating momentum. These, coupled with high levels of activity in our mining markets, give us significant confidence in reiterating our 2023 guidance of strong growth in constant currency revenue and operating profit, and in meeting our margin and cash conversion targets.”

Wood hires CFO from Rolls-Royce

Arvind Balan joins Wood as CFO and executive director from 15 April. He has been CFO of the Civil Aerospace business of Rolls-Royce, the FTSE 100 aerospace and defence company, for the last two years. The Civil Aerospace business has annual revenue of around £6 billion and employs around 18,000 people.

Prior to this, he held a number of executive financial leadership roles at Shell where he worked for 14 years across the UK, Singapore and China. He is a chartered accountant and holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management. He will be based in London.

His election as a director will be subject to approval at the AGM in May 2024. He will succeed David Kemp, whose intention to retire was announced on 22 August. Mr Kemp will remain with Wood to ensure a smooth transition and a further announcement will be made when the date of his retirement is known.

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