Davis quits as chief executive of Parity Group

Parity Group has announced the resignation of chief executive Paul Davis, along with its interim results for the six months ended 30 June.

Parity founder Philip Swinstead will take over as executive chairman, while Keith Jennings, managing director of Parity Solutions, has been promoted to the board of consulting.

Jennings said Parity will focus on its Solutions business: "We have recognised the market is undergoing a transformation as traditional skills are replaced by web skills."

He added that a marketing plan to position Parity as a ecommerce services company, in conjunction with its partners IBM and Sun Microsystems, will be launched this month.

Parity Solutions, the systems integration operation which generates 55 per cent of group turnover, reported turnover up 19 per cent to £84.3m and profit up 36 per cent to £7.6m.

Parity Resources, its IT staff agency business, posted an eight per cent increase in turnover to £69.3m and a nine per cent fall in profit to £3.9m.

Parity has revealed it is looking at 'options' for the unit, a common euphemism for looking for a buyer.

Anthony Miller, analyst at Richard Holway Ltd, noted that the results were fairly modest compared with recent results from other systems houses, but said: "Selling the resourcing business could result in a re-rating of the company and provide funds to fuel further growth."

He added that he expected the industry average growth in turnover for UK systems houses to be about 21 per cent this year.

Parity Group results reported pre-tax profit of £10.3m, up 18 per cent, and turnover up 14 per cent to £135m.