New CFO appointed at Midlands property, construction and development group

A leading Midlands-based property, construction and development group has appointed a new chief financial officer.

Neil Martin has joined the Deeley Group, which is headquartered in Coventry, as the firm seeks to grow and expand its presence across the region.

He follows in the footsteps of Andrew Cann, group finance director, who is retiring after 26 years with the business.

Neil trained with KPMG in Birmingham where he continued his progression post qualification. Neil then moved into industry and now has more than 25 years’ experience. He has spent more than half that time in director roles. He most recently held the position of CFO at a national property and construction plc.

His experience in property roles - including a property centric FTSE 100 business - will be utilised to support Deeley Group in its continued growth strategy, with plans to grow the circa £45 million business to circa £65millon within five years.

Neil will be based in the firm’s Coventry headquarter at George House.

He said: “I’m proud to be joining such a reputable business which is ideally positioned for growth in the coming years.

“My approach as a finance director or CFO has always been to be a facilitator of deals and that is very much my goal with Deeley. I’m looking forward to, alongside my team, providing quality information and insight to support the work we do.

“We will also be looking to improve systems across the business to improve efficiency of how we work and be more lean - with driving lean practices an overall goal of the business, from the site teams to the office staff.

“In my career I’ve been part of businesses that have enjoyed exponential growth and the strategy set out for Deeley is ambitious and achievable.

“Joining Deeley Group is the easiest decision I have made in my career. I’m looking forward to influencing our strategy and with an already strong, robust balance sheet we have a firm foundation to build on.”

Eleanor Deeley, joint managing director of Deeley Group, said: “Neil joins the firm with a fantastic track record of supporting the growth of businesses in property and other sectors.

“We would like to thank Andrew Cann for his 26 years of service to the business and recognise the integral role he has played in the development of the firm during that time.

“We are making significant investment across the business in staff, systems and processes to modernise and ensure we are as efficient, lean and agile as possible. Neil will play a key role in this process and we are delighted to him on board.”