Christian Salvesen has poached its new chief executive from rival logistics firm Exel.

Stewart Oades, himself a former Salvesen employee, will be unable to take up his new role for several months however, as he has to work out his contract with Exel.

David Fish, Christian Salvesen’s chairman, said the appointment “completes and significantly strengthens our senior management team.”

However insiders and speculating the company, which sacked its previous chief executive six months ago, could still remain leaderless for a year.

The company recently ended merger talks with TDG, which both sides said had not moved beyond the preliminary stage. The company also recently rejected a 200p-a-share offer from Custos, a Swedish investment group.

Oades is chief executive of Exel’s contract logistics for the UK and Ireland, and is responsible for retail, consumer and industrial logistics in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Topics