West Lothian tech outfit Calnex Solutions hires high-profile directors including former Skyscanner chair

Calnex Solutions, the West Lothian technology business that in 2020 became the first Scottish stock market flotation in two years, has bolstered its board with the appointment of two highly experienced directors.
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Margaret Rice-Jones and Stephen Davidson have joined the Linlithgow-based firm as non-executive directors with immediate effect.

Rice-Jones has more than 20 years’ experience at board level in public and private software and technology companies. Her current roles include acting as senior independent director at banknote maker De La Rue.

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Previously, she was senior independent director of Xaar and chaired Edinburgh-founded tech travel firm Skyscanner and Penguin Portals until they were sold for £1.4 billion and £509 million, respectively.

Margaret Rice-Jones, who previously chaired Edinburgh-founded tech travel firm Skyscanner, has joined Linlithgow-based Calnex as a non-executive director.Margaret Rice-Jones, who previously chaired Edinburgh-founded tech travel firm Skyscanner, has joined Linlithgow-based Calnex as a non-executive director.
Margaret Rice-Jones, who previously chaired Edinburgh-founded tech travel firm Skyscanner, has joined Linlithgow-based Calnex as a non-executive director.

Davidson is described as an “accomplished director of both public and private companies”, with more than two decades of PLC-board experience.

He is currently a non-executive director at main market-listed Informa and non-executive chairman at Aim-traded analytics company Actual Experience, JSE-listed Datatec and MCB Group. Davidson was previously chair at Aim companies Rosenblatt Group, Restore and Jaywing, and main market companies Inmarsat and Mecom.

George Elliott, chairman of Calnex, said: “I am very pleased to welcome Margaret and Stephen to the board of the Company. They join us at what is an exciting time for Calnex, as we seek to capitalise on the telecoms industry’s ongoing transition to 5G alongside the growth of cloud computing.

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“We look forward to benefiting from their extensive experience and knowledge.”

Calnex Solutions provides test instrumentation equipment to some of the world’s biggest telecoms companies.

In November, the group released interim results that it said “mark another considerable step forward” for the business as it continues to mull potential acquisitions.

Revenue for the six months ending September 30 amounted to £9.3m, a year-on-year jump of about a fifth, attributed to strong demand for telecoms testing equipment.

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Core earnings grew by 13.2 per cent from 12 months previously to £3.9m, and pre-tax profit was up by 18.4 per cent to £2.3m, with a maiden interim dividend of 0.28 pence per ordinary share declared.

The company debuted on the UK’s Alternative Investment Market (Aim) in October 2020.

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