NYLACAST ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

Company background

Nylacast Engineered Products designs and manufactures highly engineered safety-critical components for wear-resistant applications, suppling a well-diversified customer base that operates across a number of large and growing markets. In July 2018, private equity firm Equistone acquired a majority holding in the business and, since then, two bolt-on acquisitions have been completed: Viva Nylons and Supergrip.

With the rapid growth of Nylacast Engineered Products, coupled with Founder – Mussa Mahomed – wishing to move to a NED role, a new CEO for the business was required. Non-Executive Chair (and previous Directorbank client), Peter Williamson, asked Directorbank to undertake the search.

As the search progressed, it became clear that further senior hires were required to help take the business to the next level: a Sales Director for the Renewables sector and a Chief Operations Officer. With support from our in-house research team, Simon Thomas and Mike Avis successfully delivered the three assignments over a 12-month period.

1/ Chief Executive Officer

A strong successor to the Founder, the CEO takes over responsibility for the overall strategic direction and the commercial and operational leadership of Nylacast Engineered Products, to enable the business to continue its growth trajectory.

Result:

Keith Dodd was appointed in May 2022. Keith is a strong sector-experienced CEO with a career history spanning larger corporates including Kennametal, Morgan Advanced Materials and more recently Jeld-Wen. He brings a proven track record of revenue growth (establishing non-cyclical demand from customers aligned with a businesses’ value proposition) and margin improvement (pricing and productivity across all functions and mix including products, customers & markets).

2/ Sales Director

To capitalise on new market opportunities, within the Renewables sector, a Sales Director was required to build and deliver a strategic plan to expand Nylacast’s presence across existing products as well as to identify new outlets and product development opportunities.

Result:

Andrew Dearden joined the business in October 2022. His formative career included Trelleborg Offshore and latterly CRP Subsea where he had a focus on both the Renewables and Oil & Gas sectors. Andrew also brings significant international sales, marketing and commercial experience covering Europe, Middle East, Africa, Malaysia and Singapore.

3/ Chief Operations Officer

Having scaled significantly over recent years, Nylacast required a COO to oversee operational performance, implement procurement and supply chain synergies, and deliver initiatives around ESG and Health & Safety.

Result:

Ben Hambleton joined the business in June 2023. His background includes over 20 years’ experience in precision manufacturing across various sectors including aerospace, nuclear and power generation. Working initially within Hampson Group’s Aerospace Machining division, he later joined Bromford Industries where he progressively moved through the ranks, holding various leadership positions as the business grew globally, working directly with major blue chips such as Rolls Royce and Siemens.