She assumes the role that was previously covered on a temporary basis by Tim Haywood, who remains finance director.

Stokes , who is a Chartered Secretary with an accounting background, was previously a senior manager in the secretariat of Alliance & Leicester plc.

Prior to that, she ran her own business providing company secretarial services to a wide range of public and private companies and previously was deputy company secretary of McKechnie plc.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire