New chairman for Aveva

FTSE 250 engineering technology firm Aveva has announced a new chairman.

Incumbent Nick Priest is set to step down from the job at the company's annual general meeting in July.

The company said Philip Aiken would join the board at the start of May as Deputy Chairman and, subject to election by shareholders, then succeed Priest as Chairman.

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Aiken has extensive experience in the energy sector and is currently a director of Kazakhmys, the National Grid, Essar Energy and well as chairman of Robert Walters.

"The company plans in long cycles and after six years I feel it is time to hand over to a new chairman who can lead the board during the next period of development," said Priest.

Aveva's latest update showed the firm put in a strong finish to the financial year, driven by strong demand from the oil and gas industry.

The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region continued to perform strongly in the second half of the year, the group said, while the group's Latin American operations were once again the star performers in the Americas.

Asia Pacific recovered well in the second half following the restructure of the operations in China in the first half of the fiscal year, the firm said in mid-April.