CUMBRIAN agricultural and engineering group Carr's has announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer.

Hugh Pelham is to take over at the helm of the Agriculture and Engineering Group after Tim Davies stepped down from the Board at the Group's AGM.

Mr Davies will remain with the Group during a short handover period.

Mr Pelham brings over 30 years’ experience in leading growing businesses across various sectors. Most recently, he served as Global President at Minova – a AU$500m division of ASX-listed Orica – manufacturing and supplying chemical and mechanical earth control products, adhesives and support equipment for the mining industry where he successfully led a turn-around of the business from making a $2m loss to a $21m profit.

Prior to this, from 2002 Mr Pelham was Managing Director of Pyeroy Group Limited, a provider of specialist coatings, access and fabric maintenance services to the oil & gas, chemical, marine and rail industries with responsibility for a team of 2,400 people.

Mr Pelham has a strong track record of generating value through the achievement of both long-term profitable growth and successful business turnarounds in both a domestic UK business and an international business operating in 40 countries. He holds a BA in Engineering, Economics and Management from Oxford University and an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.

He said:“Whilst the pandemic means that my first few months will be somewhat different from what I had envisaged, I will of course be familiarising myself with the business as intensely as possible and meeting, albeit virtually, with all of the teams.

“I will not, however, be forgetting that, at heart, this is a Cumbrian business but with a global outlook. One of the many advantages of leading Carr’s Group is getting to relocate to this beautiful region and, with a third of our employees also located in Cumbria.”