Life is not so sweet for Cadbury’s FD

Life won’t be a box of chocolates for Andrew Bonfield, the finance director of Cadbury’s, who is stepping down from his role as part of the company’s takeover by Kraft.

Bonfield is not alone in his departure, he is joined by CEO Todd Stitzer and chairman Roger Carr, who are all leaving for pastures new.

With questions asked about the value of the deal struck by the board, it will be interesting to see the value of their personal stocks when looking for their next jobs.

Bonfield has only served at Cadbury for a year but this is not the first time he has stepped down due to a merger. He was previously chief financial officer at SmithKline Beecham and relinquished his title when the pharma giant merged with Glaxo Wellcome in 2000.

Two FDs are leaving engineering and industrial holding company Southern Bear. David Pearson, the current FD, is retiring on medical grounds but will assist in a handover to Michael Clough. Non-executive director and former Southern Bear FD Neil McGowan also steps down. Clough steps up from the financial controller role. He qualified with Deloitte and has also held senior finance positions at Ruberoid and Tarmac.

PwC is beefing up its risk assurance division with the recruitment of Paul Robertson. He will lead the crisis management and business continuity departments. He has worked as a consultant for 13 years helping organisations to develop business continuity and crisis management capabilities.

Former KPMG tax expert Richard Lovett has become the first non-lawyer partner at Howes Percival. Lovett joined the law firm in 2001 as trust manager. He has worked in land and property ownership tax for more than 30 years, including at KPMG and Cozens-Hardy. He is also a founding member and past secretary of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, Norfolk and Norwich.