St Andrews Timber & Building Supplies has strengthened its senior management team with the appointment of Kevin Johnston as its first finance director.

Mr Johnston was most recently commercial director and chief finance officer with Edinburgh Leisure.

Prior to that he ran the finances in multinational public and entrepreneurial companies including the global healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson and Caledonian Alloys.

Managing director Ronnie Robinson said the expansion of the executive team with Mr Johnston’s arrival will put the independent builders’ merchants, which has two branches in Edinburgh, one in West Lothian and one in Renfrewshire, in a strong position to continue its growth plans.

“The company is at a size now with four branches, around 100 staff and so many moving parts, that it became a necessity to employ a finance director to pull everything together and get a real handle on the company operations from a more defined financial and numbers perspective,” he said.

Mr Johnston said: “I instantly liked Ronnie from our first meeting, and it was clear from the people I met during the interview process that he has built a great team at St Andrews.

“The business has grown hugely over the years and the opportunity to utilise my experience in helping the further expansion of this ambitious entrepreneurial company is really exciting.”