The UK building materials supplier, which has issued a pair of warnings on results since last October, also said that finance head Nick Maddock would step down.

Francis will act as CEO until the end of this year while Kath Kearney-Croft, the former head of camera and lighting equipment supplier Vitec Group, will take the CFO role on an interim basis, SIG said.

"Now that this essential restructuring of the group has largely been completed, the board believes that it is time for a new leadership team," the company said.

SIG, which operates in the UK, Ireland and Mainland Europe with 8,300 employees, said results for the year ended Dec. 31 would be in line with guidance provided in January.

The company also pushed its full-year results to the second half of April from early March in light of the management changes.

SIG warned last month that sales in December had fallen by a quarter versus November, blaming a fall in construction activity in key markets. It expected underlying pretax profit of about 42 million pounds ($55 million) for the year to December, well below some market estimates.

For most of the last year, the UK was bogged down by uncertainty pertaining to the country's exit from the European Union.

The government hopes the economy will bounce back this year after Prime Minister Boris Johnson's victory in December elections and the subsequent formal departure from the bloc, although doubts remain about the future shape of trade.

(Reporting by Muvija M in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Patrick Graham)