Scott Waddington (pictured), chief executive of S A Brain, is to step down this year, the Welsh brewer has announced. He will stay in post for six months or so while a successor is found and the move to a new brewery and head office gets under way.

Chairman, John Rhys, said: “Scott has been a distinguished leader of the company over the past 17 years. I have enjoyed working with him during that time, and look forward to doing so over the coming months while we search for the right person to lead the business into the next stage of our development.”

Scott added: “It has been a privilege to lead such an iconic Welsh company, and I would like to thank all my colleagues over the years for making my time here so rewarding and enjoyable.

“With a number of our strategic priorities now reaching their conclusion, this felt like the natural time for me to move on to new challenges and to hand over to a new leader to take this great business on to its next stage of development.”