Holding position for DavyMarkham as owners ponder

Hindustan Dorr Oliver, a subsidiary of IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects, bought the company in a £9m deal in February 2010 with managing director, Kevin Parkin, and finance director Duncan Hay, agreeing to stay on for a year.

Turnaround specialist Mr Parkin has now left the business to pursue new interests while Mr Hay has agreed to act as chairman on a consultancy basis.

The “new” management team comprises the existing team of three directors with the addition of Andy Howard as financial controller.

Mr Hay told the Yorkshire Post: “The owners are still trying to decide exactly what they want to do about a long-term structure so the situation we have got at the moment is a holding position where four senior managers are operating together and I’m coming in to help them one day a week.”

He said IVRCL, which is based in Hyderabad, is kept informed of trading in weekly updates. He added: “They will give you assistance if you need assistance otherwise it’s a case of ‘you go and get on with it guys’.”

A spokeswoman for DavyMarkham said it is business as usual for the company. She said DavyMarkham has made a positive start to the year after securing a major £10.6m contract at the end of February for two mine hoists for a mine in Québec, Canada.

On current prospects, Mr Hay said: “We have lots of potentials out there. We are just looking to convert into orders. We have gone through a slack period and can see prospects picking up.”

Kevin Parkin joined the business in 2006, a year before it was bought by private equity firm Endless for a nominal sum. In February, he told the Yorkshire Post that he would be “looking for turnaround and acquisition opportunities again and looking at start-up activity too”.

Mr Howard, the new financial controller, joined in January.