Troubled British supermarket giant, Tesco, has named John Allan as chairman, ending a four month search after Richard Broadbent resigned amid an accounting scandal. Allan, 66, will join the board and be appointed chairman on March 1, when Broadbent will step down from the board, Tesco said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday. “I’m very pleased to be taking on this role at such a critical moment for the business and look forward to working with the new executive team and th
e board,” the new chairman said.
Allan is currently on the boards of electrical retailer Dixons Carphone and postal operator Royal Mail, but will step down from those positions when he takes up his new role at Tesco.
Britain’s biggest retailer was plunged into crisis in October when it revealed it had overstated profits by STG263 million ($A516.50 million) as a result of accounting errors stretching back to before 2013.
The scandal sparked the suspension of eight Tesco executives and the resignation of Broadbent.
The Serious Fraud Office is probing the accounting blunder at Tesco, which is the world’s third-biggest supermarket group after France’s Carrefour and global leader Walmart.
The supermarket giant is meanwhile suffering from fierce competition in Britain from supermarket price wars and German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Under new chief executive Dave Lewis, who was appointed last September, Tesco has cut jobs and reduced prices across hundreds of lines.
The group revealed in January that it would close 43 loss-making stores and scrap plans to open 49 more outlets.
AFP
