UK's SSE promotes company veteran Pibworth to CEO

By Raechel Thankam Job and Shashwat Awasthi

(Reuters) - Britain's SSE on Friday named Martin Pibworth as its chief executive designate, tasking the company veteran with leading the utility's renewables push and helping the UK deliver on its decarbonisation goals.

Pibworth, 51, joined SSE in 1998 and is currently its chief commercial officer, overseeing SSE's renewables, thermal, energy markets and energy customer solutions businesses.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, who has been CEO since 2013, will hand over the reins following an annual general meeting on July 17, and leave the company in November. SSE announced his retirement in November.

Britain's Labour government, which came into power last year, aims to decarbonise the electricity sector by 2030, which will require a rapid increase of renewable power capacity such as wind and solar.

Last December, SSE said its power network arm SSEN Transmission would invest at least 22 billion pounds ($28.5 billion) in grid infrastructure over five years from April 2026.

Jefferies analysts welcomed Pibworth's appointment as a "clear positive".

"As SSE's CCO, Martin has been actively involved in the design and delivery of SSE's corporate strategy. With this, we wouldn't expect the company to undergo any major strategic review with him as the new CEO," they said in a note.

Under Phillips-Davies, SSE made a strategic shift towards its networks and renewables businesses. Its shares have gained about 4% during his leadership, hitting an all-time high of 2,109 pence in September last year.

The stock was up about 1% at 1,563 pence in early trading on Friday.

Last month, the company reported higher renewables output in the nine months to December 31, 2024, but issued a cautious profit outlook.

($1 = 0.7719 pounds)

(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job and Shashwat Awasthi in Bengaluru. Editing by David Evans and Mark Potter)