RS Group plc has announced that Lindsley Ruth has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer. He will remain available to the Board of Directors, if required, over the next 12 months. Meanwhile, David Egan, Chief Financial Officer, will continue to lead the Group as Acting CEO until a permanent CEO is found.

Rona Fairhead, Chair, said: “Lindsley has led the turnaround of an underperforming business and, working with the wider team, has created a strong vision and purpose for our company.

“RS Group is now a confident organisation full of talented people, aligned behind a clear strategy focused on delivering profitable growth and market share gains. On behalf of the Board and everyone at RS Group I would like to thank Lindsley for his many achievements and wish him happiness, health and every future success.

“The success of RS Group has been a function of a clear strategy and the hard work of our high performing leaders and people throughout the business, united behind our purpose-led culture which resonates with customers and suppliers alike. We are delivering ongoing outperformance, as illustrated in our recent interim results, and see significant opportunities to continue to take market share and drive high quality profitable growth.

“The Board has every confidence in our people maintaining and building on our momentum and we thank David Egan and everyone in our fantastic team for their ongoing focus and commitment to deliver our strategy.”

Lindsley Ruth said: “I am proud to have led RS Group for over seven years. We have come a long way, and while the time is right for me to step away, I could not be prouder to see the great people in this business outperform and pursue the opportunities ahead. I would like to thank all my colleagues at RS Group for their dedication, support, and enthusiasm in driving RS Group forwards, building on the success we have achieved together.”