Newswatch: Catto's last stand at ITNET.

Catto has been a board member since he joined ITNET in January 1996. The company announced the appointment last month of Robin Taylor to take his place with effect from 25 March. Taylor will work with Catto for a number of weeks before assuming his responsibilities. ‘Roger has played a significant part in ITNET’s development from a management buy-out to a fully fledged public company,’ said Bridget Blow, chief executive. Taylor joins ITNET having spent the last three years at JBA, where he was director of business development and responsible for a major acquisition in France. He was later promoted to become the group’s chief financial officer. He will have a hard job ahead of him as ITNET, one of the growing number of IT stocks, has great expectations in the marketplace of rapid growth, with analysts predicting profit levels will escalate by 30% next year to £13m and over 20% for 2001 to almost £16m. He will also have to contend with integrating the company’s recent acquisition of French Thornton, an independent IT management consultancy.