Oxford Instruments has created a new senior management structure to reflect its plans for future expansion, write Maggie Hartford.

Its chief operating officer, Andrew Mackintosh, 42, becomes chief executive.

Dr Mackintosh said Dr Peter Williams, 53, had been finding it increasingly difficult to combine the roles of chairman and chief executive as the group had grown since it floated on the stock market in 1983.

Dr Mackintosh, who has a physics doctorate from Cambridge and speaks French and Japanese, aims to explore how individual businesses in the Oxford Instruments group can share resources. The group, set up in the garage of magnet physicist Sir Martin Wood in the sixties, has grown to £140m turnover and employs 1,600 people worldwide.

Dr Williams, who remains as chairman, said: "I intend to focus my attention on the long-term development of our group, including acquisitions and related activities.

"I view the future with great confidence."

Dr Mackintosh said the purchase plans were long term and organic growth in the Oxfordshire area would be equally important.

The group has spare cash for acquisitions and is looking at electronics and defence giant GEC, where some divisions could be up for sale.

Last year the group spent £9.5m building and equipping a new Research Instruments factory at Tubney Woods, near Abingdon; £6m on its new microanalysis centre at High Wycombe, and is spending £5.5m on the Industrial Analysis plant being built at Abingdon Business Park, due to open in April.

NMR Instruments is due to move from Osney Mead to Research Instruments' vacant building at Eynsham, allowing Accelerator Technology room to expand.

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