Fletcher successor likely to be insider

Andrew Reding

The investment community is confident Fletcher Building has enough talented executives to find a new building products divisional chief from its own workforce.

Tyndall Investment Management equities manager Rickey Ward and Walker Capital Management principal Craig Brown predict that the company has the departure of building products divisional chief Andrew Reding well covered.

The company had developed an extensive skills base and an internal replacement was likely, they said.

Ward said Reding's departure was widely anticipated because he was one of the top divisional chiefs picked as a likely candidate for chief executive Ralph Waters' job. Instead, Australian Jonathan Ling, Fletcher's chief executive of the laminates and panels division, got the job, a move which Ward said would inevitably result in some departures.

Brown said Reding's move to Rank Group could mean he would be competing with Fletcher. Rank owns Carter Holt Harvey, where Reding could use his extensive skills.

That could create an interesting situation, if Reding used those skills and his knowledge in the building products field to further a Fletcher competitor's position, Brown said

Reding said yesterday he was concerned that some people might think he had left after a dispute with senior Fletcher management.

"I'm extremely sensitive to any suggestion that there was any spat or anything. I've been offered an opportunity at Rank Group and I took it," he said.

He would not say what his job title would be, where he would be based or what he would be doing.

Reding acknowledged that part of the reason for his departure was missing out on the chief executive role, describing himself as having "topped out" at the listed building materials manufacturer and supplier.

But he also paid tribute to Fletcher, where he worked for 11 years.

"I've enjoyed my time at Fletcher Building because it's a company with a lot of very, very good people."

Fletcher's annual report shows Reding's building products division performed strongly, with earnings of $235 million in the June year, up $227 million on the previous year. Only the infrastructure division beat him, making $255 million.