Rolls-Royce names Panos Kakoullis as its new Chief Financial Officer

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Written on Feb 15, 2021

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Rolls-Royce names Panos Kakoullis as its new Chief Financial Officer.
Kakoullis has previously served as the head of audit at Deloitte.
The new finance chief will join Rolls Royce later this year on 3rd May.

In an announcement on Monday, Rolls-Royce Holdings plc (LON: RR) said that Panos Kakoullis will join the company as its new CFO on 3^rd May. Kakoullis has previously served as the head of audit at Deloitte. The new chief financial officer will help steer the British engine manufacturer’s cost-cutting and simplification in a bid to combat the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Rolls-Royce shares jumped about 1% in premarket trading on Monday and gained another 2% on market open to trade at 96 pence per share. Learn more about how do people make money on the stock market.

CEO Warren East’s comments on Monday

Rolls-Royce took a massive hit due to the COVID-19 crisis last year that weighed on the global airline industry as the demand for air travel came to a near halt. In January, the British multinational warned that it had started the new year on a worse note than expected.

CEO Warren East commented on the news on Monday and said:

“Panos delivered significant transformational change at Deloitte, streamlining and simplifying the business, and we look forward to benefitting from his expertise and experience as we deliver on our fundamental reorganisation.”

In separate news from the UK, Vantage Towers confirmed its target to produce Pro-forma free cash flow of up to £335.92 million in fiscal 2021.

The current CFO of Rolls Royce, Stephen Daintith will step down to join online retailer Ocado on 19^th March. Ben Fidler is currently serving the company as its Deputy Chief Financial Officer. Upon Daintith’s departure, Fidler will take on the role of the interim CFO until Kakoullis joins on 3^rd May.

Rolls-Royce expresses confidence in its liquidity

Kakoullis worked at Deloitte until May 2019. He has been affiliated with PA Consulting for the past two years. In December, Rolls-Royce had also announced that it had started searching for a successor to chairman Ian Davis.

Despite the COVID-19 attributed challenges, Rolls-Royce expressed confidence in its £9 billion liquidity on Monday. The London-based company is resorting to slashing its workforce by 9 thousand jobs to cut costs by over £1 billion. Rolls-Royce is also selling £2 billion worth of its assets to further boost its liquidity.

Rolls-Royce performed largely downbeat in the stock market last year with an annual decline of more than 50%. At the time of writing, it is valued at £7.96 billion.