Marshalls confirms Simon Bourne as CEO: margin and capex signals for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Building products manufacturer Marshalls has confirmed interim chief executive Simon Bourne, formerly chief commercial officer and a board member since 2022, as permanent CEO after a seven‑week internal and external search. Bourne’s first move was a trading update forecasting 2025 turnover up 2% with adjusted profit before tax in line with market expectations, but no underlying market improvement anticipated for 2026. Management is signalling that margin gains will depend on 2025 cost‑cutting and tighter execution of its “Transform & Grow” strategy across concrete, paving and landscaping product lines.
Technical Brief
- Interim appointment followed the removal of previous CEO Matt Pullen after profit deterioration.
- Pullen had been recruited from Genuit, parent of Polypipe, before his short-lived tenure at Marshalls.
- Board concluded a “robust evaluation of internal and external candidates” within seven weeks, spanning the Christmas shutdown.
- Bourne has over 10 years’ service at Marshalls and has sat on the board since 2022.
- Chair Vanda Murray links his appointment directly to accelerating execution of the group’s existing strategy, not a reset.
Our Take
The earlier November 2025 piece on Marshalls’ abrupt split with Matt Pullen shows this is the second leadership pivot in under two years, which typically signals board pressure to stabilise margins and cash generation rather than pursue major new UK expansion projects.
A forecast 2% uplift in 2025 turnover is modest by our Materials-category benchmarks, suggesting Marshalls is likely to prioritise operational efficiency and disciplined capex on projects rather than chasing volume growth in a soft UK construction market.
Within our 23 Materials stories, Marshalls appears alongside other UK building-products names like British Gypsum and Genuit/Polypipe, indicating that board-level reshuffles are becoming a recurring tool for listed suppliers trying to defend pricing power against contractors and housebuilders.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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