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Richard Howson

Summary

Richard John Howson (born August 1968)[1] is a British businessman, and the former chief executive (CEO) of Carillion, a British multinational facilities management and construction services company that went into liquidation in January 2018. Howson's "misguided self-assurance" was said to have contributed to the company's collapse. In October 2023, Howson was disqualified from being a director of a UK company for eight years for his conduct as a director of Carillion.

Richard Howson
Born
Richard John Howson

August 1968 (age 55)
NationalityBritish
EducationSettle College
Alma materLeeds Polytechnic
OccupationBusinessman
Titleformer CEO, Carillion
TermDecember 2011 - July 2017
PredecessorJohn McDonough
SuccessorKeith Cochrane (interim CEO)
Board member ofWood Group
SpouseGeri Howson
Children2 sons

Early life edit

Howson was educated at Settle College,[2] and earned a bachelor's degree in construction management from Leeds Polytechnic.[3]

Career edit

Early career edit

Howson worked at Balfour Beatty, Bovis, and Tarmac before becoming operations director for the Carillion Building business in 1999. In March 2004 he was promoted to national construction director on the Carillion Building senior management team, before becoming managing director of Carillion Rail in 2006, and then managing director of Carillion's Middle East and North African operations in 2007.[4] Howson was appointed chief operating officer of Carillion in September 2010.[5]

CEO of Carillion (2011-2017) edit

Howson was appointed as chief executive officer of Carillion in December 2011.[5] He stepped down in July 2017, following a profits warning that led to the company's shares falling almost 40%, with Keith Cochrane temporarily taking on the role.[6] Howson was asked to return his bonus, following the announcement of an £845 million impairment charge in its construction services division under his leadership at Carillion.[7] On 29 September 2017, it was revealed that Carillion's losses for the six months ended 30 June 2017 totaled £1.15 billion, following a further write-down of £200 million, this time in its support services division.[8] On 15 January 2018, Carillion went into compulsory liquidation.[9] The company is under formal investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority for the term Howson was CEO.[10]

After giving evidence on 6 February 2018, Howson was one of several former Carillion directors described as "delusional characters" by House of Commons Select Committee chairs Frank Field (Work and Pensions) and Rachel Reeves (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy).[11] During evidence, the company claimed it was owed £200m in relation to the Msheireb Downtown Doha project in Qatar,[12] and Howson said he felt like "a bailiff" in chasing the debt.[13] (Howson and the board's claim was disputed by Msheireb Properties,[14][15] who were said to be considering a £200m claim against Carillion.)[16]

Carillion investors said the board focused more on their pay than the company's performance,[17] with the protection of directors' pay extending to the creation of a secret bank account for Howson's share-related bonuses.[18]

In the final report of the Parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of Carillion, published on 16 May 2018, Howson was severely criticised, described as "the figurehead for a business model that was doomed to fail".[19] The report continued:

"... under him it careered progressively out of control. His misguided self-assurance obscured an apparent lack of interest in, or understanding of, essential detail, or any recognition that Carillion was a business crying out for challenge and reform. Right to the end, he remained confident that he could have saved the company had the board not finally decided to remove him. Instead, Mr Howson should accept that, as the longstanding leader who took Carillion to the brink, he was part of the problem rather than part of the solution."[19]

The report also recommended that the Insolvency Service should consider whether the former Carillion directors, including Howson, could be disqualified from acting as a director.[20]

The parliamentary process and findings have been questioned by former Carillion executives as lacking in objectivity and thoroughness, treating a highly complex situation in an incomplete manner. Howson (whose letters were published by the select committees on 12 July 2018)[21] contends that Carillion was a victim of its public sector clients and that “any analysis as to the causes of the failure of Carillion is not complete without looking at how government and the wider public sector procured services from Carillion and failed to administer payments.”[22]

In November 2020, the Financial Conduct Authority said some Carillion directors had "acted recklessly" and released "misleadingly positive" market updates before it collapsed. As a result, the FCA said it had sent notices to some (unnamed) former Carillion directors warning of possible enforcement action (possible sanctions include public censure, fines and suspensions from holding certain positions).[23] In January 2021, the Insolvency Service said it would seek to ban eight former Carillion directors, including Howson, from holding senior boardroom positions.[24] In July 2022, the FCA announced it had decided to fine Howson £397,800; the former director was appealing against the penalty.[25][26]

In October 2023, the Insolvency Service announced Howson had been disqualified from being a director of a UK company for eight years for his conduct as a director of Carillion.[27]

Other directorships edit

Howson became a non-executive director of Wood Group in April 2016,[5] but resigned on 17 January 2018, following the collapse of Carillion.[28]

Banned from being a director of a UK company, Howson was appointed construction president of an American contractor - Tampa, Florida-based TECfusions - in January 2024.[29]

Personal life edit

Howson and his wife Geri own a home in Skipton, North Yorkshire, and a six-bedroom chalet in the French alpine ski resort of Châtel.[30][3] They have two sons.[3]

References edit

  1. ^ "CARILLION PLC - Officers (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Settle College Matters" (PDF). Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Carillion CEO Encourages Students to Consider Engineering – Speakers for Schools". www.speakers4schools.org. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  4. ^ "Richard Howson". Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b c "Carillion chief to join Wood Group board". Insider.co.uk. 15 April 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  6. ^ Julia Kollewe (10 July 2017). "Carillion boss steps down as shares crash 40% | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
  7. ^ Collingridge, John. "Carillion investors seek bonus clawback from former executives Richard Howson and Richard Adam". thetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. ^ "Carillion shares slump by a fifth as it reveals loss of £1.15bn". The Telegraph. 29 September 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2017.
  9. ^ "Carillion to go into liquidation". BBC News. BBC. 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  10. ^ "Carillion probed by financial watchdog". BBC News. 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  11. ^ Rob Davies (1 January 1970). "Former Carillion directors branded 'delusional' at MPs' Q&A | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  12. ^ Withers, Iain; Curry, Rhiannon (4 February 2018). "Former Carillion bosses to give explosive tesimony to MPs this week and pin blame on Qataris". Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  13. ^ "I felt like a bailiff, says Howson". The Construction Index. 6 February 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  14. ^ Goodley, Simon; Topham, Gwyn (7 February 2018). "Carillion executives accused of giving misleading evidence to MPs". Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  15. ^ Harwood, Anthony (9 February 2018). "Sheiks demand hearing to rebut Carillion's allegations of non-payments". The Construction Index. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
  16. ^ Curry, Rhiannon (21 February 2018). "Qatari developer could bring legal action against Carillion". Telegraph. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  17. ^ Morby, Aaron (7 March 2018). "Carillion bosses focused on their own pay rather than the company". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  18. ^ Price, David (26 March 2018). "Carillion agreed secret bonus account for Richard Howson". Construction News. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  19. ^ a b Carillion: Second Joint report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Work and Pensions Committees of Session 2017–19 (PDF). London: House of Commons. 2018. p. 88. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  20. ^ Carillion: Second Joint report from the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Work and Pensions Committees of Session 2017–19 (PDF). London: House of Commons. 2018. p. 93. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  21. ^ "Carillion: Responses from Interested Parties to the Tenth Report of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee and Twelfth Report of the Work and Pensions Committee". Parliament.uk. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  22. ^ Howson, Richard (12 July 2018). "What the MPs Missed". The Construction Index. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  23. ^ Price, David (13 November 2020). "Carillion directors 'recklessly' misled the market, says watchdog". Construction News. Retrieved 13 November 2020.
  24. ^ Partington, Richard (13 January 2021). "Legal bid launched to ban ex-Carillion directors from top boardroom roles". Guardian. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
  25. ^ Prior, Grant (28 July 2022). "Three former Carillion bosses fined £870k by watchdog". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  26. ^ Stein, Joshua (28 July 2022). "Former Carillion bosses face £870,000 fines". Construction News. Retrieved 29 July 2022.
  27. ^ Prior, Grant (4 October 2023). "Former Carillion CEO banned for eight years". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  28. ^ "Ex-Carillion boss resigns from Aberdeen oil services giant". BBC News. 17 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  29. ^ Morby, Aaron (24 January 2024). "Ex-Carillion boss lands senior role at US tech contractor". Construction Enquirer. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  30. ^ "£660k Carillion boss pictured smiling weeks after he quit firm". standard.co.uk. 16 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2018.

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