Tesco Ireland has confirmed Andrew Yaxley as its new chief executive, taking over from Phil Clarke.
Tesco recently announced that Clarke would be retiring from the business in April, after a two-year tenure as Tesco Ireland chief executive. In total, he has spent around four decades at Tesco, joining at the age of 15 as a shelf-stacker.
A Tesco Ireland spokesperson told Checkout that the move had 'nothing to do' with the group's performance here, adding that the 'fundamentals of the business' in Ireland are strong.
According to the most recent Kantar Worldpanel market-share figures, Tesco is the current Irish grocery market leader, with a 25-per-cent share, however, SuperValu is just ten basis points behind, on a 24.9-per-cent share.
Yaxley previously held the role of managing director of Tesco's London business, a position he had held since 2013. He has worked at Tesco since 2001, holding positions including UK commercial director of fresh foods and commercial director of the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. He also spent approximately two decades at Mars in a variety of sales-director positions.
Yaxley will report into Matt Davies, CEO of Tesco UK & Ireland. He has spent a lot of time in Ireland, as his wife, Sinéad, is from Bray.
According to Tesco, "Andrew is a highly experienced executive with over 20 years’ experience in building businesses in the retail and FMCG-manufacturing sectors. He has broad expertise across brands, customer propositions, commercial buying, store operations and property. He has held a number of senior commercial and operations roles in Tesco."
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article written by Stephen Wynne-Jones.
