East said Daintith’s restructuring experience would be valuable to Rolls-Royce.
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The move is part of the ongoing shake-up at the British engine maker under chief executive Warren East who has been looking to turn around the company’s fortunes following a string of profit warnings.
Daintith, who is now CFO at Daily Mail and General Trust, will replace David Smith in 2017, Rolls-Royce said in a statement on Thursday.
Rolls-Royce said earlier this month that Simon Kirby, now at HS2, will join the firm as chief operating officer.
The firm’s shares slumped 1.10 per cent to 718p per share in early morning trading, giving it a market capitalisation of £13.20bn.
“I am delighted to welcome Stephen to Rolls-Royce as Chief Financial Officer and as a Board colleague”, the FTSE 100 group’s chief executive Warren East commented in the statement, adding that Daintith’s “deep understanding of worldwide business and his record of achievement in change management are particularly relevant to Rolls-Royce”.
An analyst who declined to be named said Smith’s going was not a huge surprise.
Daintith, said: “Warren is driving a transformation programme that I entirely support”.
However, Mr East has said that further savings remain on the agenda.
Mr Daintith is now finance chief at newspaper publisher Daily Mail & General Trust.
Rolls has already started a process of preparing investors for a transition to new accounting system, IFRS 15, in 2018.
On Thursday he hailed Mr Daintith’s “deep understanding of global business” and his record of achievement.
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Daintith will be paid an annual salary of 680,000 pounds ($888,284) at Rolls-Royce plus a potential performance share award of 225 percent of his salary.
