Barclays’ former head of media takes on IR at Balfour Beatty

Giles Croot, Barclays’ former head of media of four years, has been hired by Balfour Beatty, the UK’s largest construction group, to serve as group head of corporate communications and IR.

Giles Croot, Balfour Beatty's new head of corporate communications and IR

A chemistry graduate of Durham University, Croot started his career as a producer at GMTV (now ITV Breakfast), later moving on to be news editor for UK content provider ITN for three years. He subsequently spent 10 years at communications consultancy Brunswick, serving as a director and working on a wide range of services including financial PR, reputation management, crisis handling and launches. During his tenure, he was in charge of the Barclays account, among others.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Croot was rated the fourth-most influential financial PR adviser in City AM’s 2008 poll of national newspaper City editors.

‘Balfour Beatty is a world-leading brand,’ Croot told PRWeek. ‘I’m looking forward to helping build its reputation as an expert global infrastructure company with a high-performing global communications and investor relations team. Communications and investor relations will play a core role in helping Balfour Beatty to convey its strategy and vision to all our stakeholders throughout a critical business transformation program.’

The London-headquartered construction group has been facing ‘major short-term challenges’ according to a statement by CEO Leo Quinn, who joined the firm in January from QinetiQ. The firm’s share price has been stable, however, despite revenue stagnating at £8.4 bn ($12.9 bn), pre-tax losses increasing six-fold to £304 mn and the axing of its dividend for 2014.

In January 2014 Balfour landed a £154 mn contract to convert London’s Olympic stadium into a multi-purpose venue that will host several Rugby World Cup matches before becoming the permanent base of soccer team West Ham United.