MANORLANE NEWS

Manorlane, the prestigious Scottish housebuilder, has recruited Paul Williams as its Finance Director.

Paul Williams (42) joins Manorlane from ITS – owned by well-known Scottish entrepreneur, Richard Emanuel – where he was Head of Finance for seven years and brings strengths in leadership, international excellence and corporate finance.

During his career with ITS, Paul helped the company flourish and grow from £30m to £300m turnover, eventually becoming the leading retailer of mobile phones, consumer electronics and computers in the Netherlands. Paul’s significant contribution to this growth included leading on the acquisition of Dixons and Dynabyte in 2006.

Prior to joining ITS, Paul was Head of Finance for housewares supplier Addis for eight years, during which time he was part of the turn around team, helping the company to move from losses of £2m to a profit of £2m. This was followed by an MBO, which led to a successful exit for shareholders.

Paul Williams, Finance Director, Manorlane, said: “I am extremely excited to be joining Manorlane and was attracted to the passion, energy and ambition of its management team. I have 15 years experience in businesses which sell to the consumer and believe that this knowledge, coupled with my ability and experience in raising significant amounts of money, will be extremely valuable to Manorlane.”

Elliot Robertson, Chief Executive, Manorlane, said: “We are delighted to have secured such a high calibre individual, with a great wealth of knowledge and experience. Paul will be a major asset to the company and will assist us in driving the business forward, securing future funding and delivering continued profit growth.” 

Paul graduated from Imperial College, London, in 1990. After training in London, he moved to KPMG in his native Cardiff. He is married with one daughter and lives in Strathblane. In his spare time, Paul enjoys hillwalking and opera.

In its second year of trading Manorlane almost tripled turnover to £13.67m (2005/2006: £5.14m) with pre-tax profits of £3.13m.