LSL, the parent company of Primis and co-owner of Pivotal Growth, has promoted Adam Castleton, its current group chief financial officer (CFO), to chief executive officer (CEO) designate.
The appointment follows David Stewart’s notification to the LSL board of his intention to retire from his executive role and the board.
The appointment coincides with the group’s issuing of a pre-close trading update for the 12-month period ending 31 December 2024. The update revealed group revenues for the year ended 31 December 2024 are expected to increase by around 20% to around £173m.
This is up from £144.4m in 2023.
Thorough search
The company said Castleton’s appointment has followed a thorough process overseen by the nominations committee, conducted by an external executive search organisation.
It added its board is confident that Castleton’s deep knowledge of LSL’s businesses coupled with his breadth of experience in leadership roles, make him the right candidate to lead the group forward.
Castleton joined LSL in 2015, bringing with him previous experience in the public markets as group CFO. He previously held leadership roles at a number of market leading companies including O2 UK, EBay, and The Walt Disney Company.
He has more than 35 years’ experience in corporate leadership roles, having started his career with Price Waterhouse where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1989.
Castleton will formally take up the CEO position on 1 May 2025, following a transition and handover period with Stewart.
The nominations committee has agreed a process to identify and appoint a new CFO, and will make a further announcement in due course.
In addition, and subject to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval, the board said it is pleased that he will remain with LSL as a non-executive director of the group companies forming its financial services network and trading as PRIMIS Mortgage Network, enabling the group to continue to benefit from his financial services expertise.
Stewart will also continue as LSL’s nominated director for the Pivotal Growth joint venture companies.
Additional responsibilities
As part of a broader strengthening of LSL’s governance framework, two existing LSL board members will take on additional responsibility in respect of two of LSL’s businesses.
Michael Stoop, non-executive director, will become chairman of the estate agency division, reflecting his decades of expertise in estate agency and franchising which he has gained from his roles at Winkworth, Legal & General, and Belvoir Group.
Darrell Evans, non-executive director, will chair the surveying and valuation division, drawing on experience gained at Co-operative Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.
The governance arrangements for LSL’s regulated financial services division already has in place a non-executive chairman, John Lowe.
Immensely grateful
Adrian Collins, non-executive chairman, said: “We are immensely grateful to David, who during his tenure as CEO led the transformation of LSL to a higher margin, less capital-intensive business that will perform more consistently through market cycles.
“Under his leadership, we have simplified and restructured our financial services and estate agency businesses.
“Both are now focused on business-to-business services with a significantly lower cost base and the potential for higher free cash flow generation.
“The board is very confident in Adam as the right person to lead LSL forwards, due to his detailed knowledge of our business, his breadth and depth of experience in corporate leadership and his close engagement with our investor community.
“Today, LSL is a streamlined, agile group comprising three strong businesses, each with attractive organic growth opportunities, and each overseen by an experienced non-executive chairman.
“Our focus now is on maximising the performance of our businesses to deliver value to shareholders.”
Profits significantly ahead of prior year
According to the trading update, group underlying operating profit is significantly ahead of prior year and slightly ahead of the board’s prior expectations, with each of LSL’s three divisions reporting an increase in underlying operating profit.
Profit increased year-on-year in its financial services network business and its overall share of the UK purchase and remortgage market increased to 11.6% from 10.7% in 2023.
Operating margin for the year has also improved to around 18% from 14% in 2023.
