Genus announces retirement of Group Finance Director

Genus announced Thursday that Group Finance Director John Worby will be stepping down after eight years at the leading global animal genetics firm.

Worby - who joined the board in 2004 as non-executive director before being appointed the group finance director - is set to retire from the board of the FSTE 250 company next March as he focuses on his non-executive portfolio.

"During his time at Genus, John has been an invaluable member of the Board in both his Non-Executive and Group Finance Director capacities," Chairman Bob Lawson said in a statement.

"His vast knowledge and experience supporting quoted companies has helped Genus to develop strong relationships with its shareholders and has been a huge source of strength for the CEOs with whom he has worked. We are very grateful to John for all his contributions over the years and on behalf of the board, we wish him well in his retirement. "

Stephen Wilson, who is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of financial software provider Misys, will step into Worby's shoes.

Wilson was Vice President and CFO of IBM UK prior to joining Misys. He is also a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and is a non-executive director of Xchanging.

Chief Executive of Genus, Karim Bitar, has welcomed Wilson to the board. "We are delighted that Stephen will be joining Genus," Bitar said.

"He brings strong financial and business development skills, and will be a valuable business partner, with his experience of working in large global enterprises and his record of building strong finance teams. I am looking forward to working closely with Stephen in continuing to execute our exciting and ambitious growth strategy."

Genus has a market capitalisation of £855.78m. Its share price dropped 0.07% to 1,409.00p at 09:20 Thursday.

RD