Redrow boss delays handover to oversee covid-19 recovery

Redrow has said that executive chairman John Tutte will stay in the role until later this year.

Tutte (pictured), who has been at the firm more than two decades, had been due to step down at the end of June to take up the non-executive chairman’s post.

But the firm said he was delaying the move until November’s AGM because of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the firm.

In an update to the City this morning, Redrow added: “It remains John’s intention to retire from the Board ahead of the AGM in 2021.”

Current chief operating officer Matthew Pratt will become group chief executive on 1 July as previously announced.

The firm, which has furloughed 80% of its staff amounting to around 1,800 people, said that it had secured an additional £100m of financial headroom from its existing lenders, taking its commercial credit facility to £350m

Earlier this month, Redrow said it had been declared eligible for a £300m loan under the Bank of England Covid Corporate Financing Facility, designed to allow firms with investment-grade credit ratings to borrow cheaply to offset business impacts of the crisis.

The news came as rival housebuilder Countryside announced its board of directors had taken a 20% pay cut for two months from April 1, and had set up a £1m charitable fund to support vulnerable people during the coronavirus crisis.

Last week Countryside admitted it had furloughed around two-thirds of its staff in response to the crisis, as it shut sites following the imposition of lockdown.