Henry Staunton
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Henry Staunton (born in India, May 20, 1948), is a British businessman and the former Finance Director of Granada Group and ITV plc.
Named in The Times 2006 Power 100 survey, and rated as one of the UK's top 50 finance movers and shakers by Accountancy Age,[1] Staunton is an "experienced finance professional"[2] and "well regarded dealmaker"[3] with a long history of big corporate transactions.[4] While at Granada he helped steer one of the largest mergers in media history - creating a unified ITV - and played a key role in ensuring Granada and its key executives came out on top after the £5.8bn deal to merge Carlton and Granada."[5]
He currently sits on the boards of insurer Legal & General, The Merchants Trust plc, Standard Bank, international fashion retailer New Look,[6] property investment and development company Capital & Counties Properties [7] and, as of 1 September 2010, British retailer, WH Smith.[8]
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[edit] Earlier career
Staunton attended Ipswich School before reading Economics and Statistics at Exeter University. In 1970 he joined auditing firm Price Waterhouse: he was admitted as a partner in 1981, later becoming Senior Audit Partner, looking after a number of its major clients including news service Reuters and textiles and chemicals manufacturer Courtaulds.[9]
[edit] Granada & ITV
Staunton was appointed to the board of ITV plc on 3 December 2003 after the merger of Granada and Carlton.[10] Previously he served as the Finance Director of Granada Group plc, which he joined in 1993.
Since then Granada / ITV has :
- acquired London Weekend Television via a £650m hostile takeover (1994);
- acquired motorway catering company Pavilion Leisure (1994);
- acquired Direct Vision Rentals (1994);
- taken over Forte Group via a £3.8 billion tender offer (1996);
- acquired Yorkshire Television and Tyne-Tees TV (1997);
- acquired Anglia TV (2000);
- acquired HTV (2000);
- acquired Meridian TV (2000);
- merged with Compass Group to form Granada Compass plc (2000);
- demerged Granada Media (2000);
- acquired Border TV (2001); and
- merged with Carlton to form ITV (2003).
On 21 September 2005 ITV plc announced that Staunton planned to step down as Finance Director - to the surprise of the analyst community.[11] He resigned from the Board of ITV plc on 29 March 2006[12] announcing that he planned to "broadly retire".[13]
[edit] Non-Executive career
Staunton's board experience includes non-executive roles as Chairman of Ashtead Group plc, a plant hire company (1997–2004), and as a director of EMAP plc, a consumer magazine and media company. In 2002, Staunton (who had been on the Emap board since 1995) was forced to resign after a government ruling that he could not be on the board of both Granada and Emap.[14]
He has also served on the boards of ITN, a British news broadcaster, and BSkyB - the operator of the UK's largest digital pay television platform.
He was appointed to the board of Legal & General on 1 May 2004, and sat on the Audit and Nominations Committees[15] until retiring at the 2010 Annual General Meeting.[16]
He is also a non-executive director of Standard Bank.[17] Staunton was appointed Chairman of the Board Audit Committee and a director on 1 December 2005.
Staunton was appointed a non-executive director of Ladbrokes on 1 September 2006.[18]
In April 2007 The Times reported that Vector, the £2.5 billion hotel real estate investment trust (Reit), was about to unveil a "high-powered set of nonexecutive directors" including Staunton.[19]
He was appointed a non-executive director of The Merchants Trust plc (with effect from 1 May 2008) on April 2008.[20]
In 2010, it was announced he was to join the non-executive boards of WH Smith plc[21] and Capital & Counties Properties.[22]
[edit] Other interests
Outside of his business life, Staunton sits on the advisory board of Xfi, Exeter University's business school.[23] He plays Eton Fives[24] and golf. His clubs include Walton Heath Golf Club[25] and the RAC[disambiguation needed 
].
[edit] References
- ^ Top 50 power list, Accountancy Age, 8 Jan 2004
- ^ Accountancy Age, 08 June 2010 Finance experts take top WH Smith roles
- ^ The Daily Telegraph, 22 September 2005
- ^ The Business, 25 September 2005
- ^ Karen Day, I'm an FD, get me out of here, Accountancy Age, 29 September 2005
- ^ New Look listing aims to raise £650m, Financial Times, 2 Feb 2010
- ^ [jobs.telegraph.co.uk/interim-jobs/news/502/movers-and-shakers Daily Telegraph, Movers & Shakers, 21 May 2010
- ^ [www.ft.com/cms/s/0/648b6706-72c7-11df-9161-00144feabdc0.html
- ^ Business Week: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=924280&ric=LAD.L&previousCapId=874781&previousTitle=Legal%20%26%20General%20Group%20Plc
- ^ www.itvplc.com/files/financialreport/2022/itv_2006_ar.pdf], ITV plc Report and accounts 2006
- ^ Marketing, 21 December 2005
- ^ Regulatory News Service, 30 March 2006
- ^ Business Big Shot, The Times, 9 March 2006
- ^ Two alight after row with Redbus's Porter, Daily Telegraph, 26 Jun 2002
- ^ http://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/investors/board.cfm?bio=5912
- ^ http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201002180700123202H
- ^ Standard Bank - Annual report 2005
- ^ Ladbrokes PLC
- ^ The Times: Ex-Trillium chief to join Vector board, The Times, 25 April 2007
- ^ MoneyAM
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ PKF says The Plumber Paul Davidson should pipe down with his demands, Daily Telegraph, 2 May 2008
- ^ Vector lines up top team for Duffy, The Times, 14 April 2007
