Computacenter plc (LON:CCC) has today announced the appointment of Christian Jehle as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of the Company to succeed Tony Conophy, who has notified the Company that he will be retiring. Christian will join the Company and the Board between 24 March 2023 and 1 July 2023. The Company will issue a further Regulatory News Service announcement once the date that Christian will join the Company and the Board has been confirmed.
Christian will join Computacenter from his current role as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director for the UK & Ireland division of Experian plc, prior to which he held the role of Chief Financial Officer of Global Decision Analytics at Experian. Christian started his career as a graduate at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, and prior to joining Experian, held a number of commercial and finance roles at Accenture, First Data International and SAP SE, including as Chief Financial Officer, Japan, and Chief Financial Officer, UK & Ireland, during his time at SAP.
Tony Conophy will be stepping down as Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Computacenter plc upon Christian joining the Company and the Board. This will be at a date to be determined, between 24 March 2023 and 1 July 2023. Tony has agreed to then remain with the Company for a further period (which is anticipated to be for 3 months) to enable an appropriate transition to Christian to take place.
Mike Norris, Computacenter Chief Executive Officer, commented:
“We are delighted to appoint Christian in the role of Chief Financial Officer. His career to date has been characterised by leading transformations of finance functions to ensure that they are best in class and fit for purpose for continually expanding and changing businesses. The Board and I look forward to working with him as we continue to further develop our finance function as the needs of our business change and ensure that it remains in a position to best support and enable the continued growth of our business.”
“It is hard to overstate the contribution that Tony Conophy has made during his time at Computacenter, following his appointment as the Group’s Chief Financial Officer in 1998. I would personally like to thank Tony for his wise counsel, unwavering support and exceptional service during that time. It has been a great privilege to have worked closely alongside him, and on behalf of the Board and employees across the Group, I would like to wish him all the very best for his upcoming retirement.”
The company confirms there is no further information to be disclosed under the requirements of listing rule 9.6.13R in relation to Christian Jehle’s appointment.
Remuneration disclosure
As CFO of Computacenter, Christian will receive a remuneration package which will comprise a basic salary, variable incentive arrangements and benefits which are fully in line with Computacenter’s current Remuneration Policy. The key elements of the package are as follows:
He will receive an annual base salary of £450,000. He will receive a pension allowance of 5% of salary in line with the wider Computacenter workforce in the UK, and other benefits in line with relevant existing Computacenter policies. He will be eligible to participate in the Company’s existing annual bonus plan with a maximum opportunity of 150% of salary and subject to deferral in line with our Remuneration Policy. Christian will also be eligible to participate in the Company’s Performance Share Plan (PSP) with a 2023 award value of 175% of base salary and subject to a two-year holding period following the end of the three-year performance period.
Malus and clawback will apply to the variable remuneration arrangements.
His share ownership requirement will be in line with the Company’s existing policy, requiring that he build up ownership of a shareholding that is equal to 200 per cent of his salary. There will be a formal post-employment shareholding requirement for two years after departure.
Christian will also receive awards to compensate for remuneration arrangements forfeited on leaving his previous employer. These will remain subject to performance conditions where appropriate and take into account the time horizons of forfeited awards.
All remuneration arrangements are consistent with the terms of the Directors’ Remuneration Policy approved by shareholders at the AGM in May 2020. Further detail will be set out in the Directors Remuneration Report within Computacenter’s 2022 Annual Report and Accounts.
Tony Conophy’s remuneration arrangements will be treated in accordance with the Company’s approved Remuneration Policy and his service contract, remaining eligible for salary, benefits and bonus until the date he retires from the Company. Any bonus payable for 2023 will be pro-rated and subject to deferral. All Performance Share Plan (PSP) awards which are unvested at the point that Tony retires from the Company will be pro-rated to the date of leaving and remain capable of vesting on the original vesting schedule and subject to the original performance conditions. All PSP awards will remain subject to the post-vesting holding periods in line with their terms. No further PSP awards will be granted.
Full details will be disclosed in the Directors’ Remuneration Report within the Company’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2022 and on the Company’s website in due course in compliance with Section 430(2B) of the Companies Act 2006.
