Wolseley UK has announced the appointment of a new Managing Director, who will focus on improving the company’s profitability.

Mark Higson took up the role on 1 March, following three years working in private equity. He replaces Patrick Headon, who left Wolseley UK at the end of last year.

According to the company, he will continue to implement its two-year £100m transformation programme to “build a better and more profitable UK business”.

Higson joins Wolseley UK from Advent, where he advised on a variety of their portfolio businesses. Between 2007 and 2014 he was Managing Director Operations at the Royal Mail, and prior to that he held various senior leadership positions at building materials group BPB plc.

Earlier in his career he spent 12 years with Courtalds plc.

Higson said: “Wolseley is a business with a proud history and an exciting future, and I am delighted to be appointed Managing Director. I look forward to getting to know the business and working with employees, customers and suppliers as we accelerate the delivery of our transformation plan.”

John Martin, Group Chief Executive of Wolseley UK parent company Ferguson plc, added: “Mark joins the UK business at an exciting time and has the ideal track record for this important leadership role. His focus will be to continue to rapidly implement our transformation strategy in order to build a better and more profitable UK business.”