Charles Wilson has been appointed chief executive of Tesco's UK and Ireland business, with the Booker chief executive set to commence his role once the wholesaler's merger with Tesco is complete.
Tesco said in a statement this morning that it expects the merger to be completed on 5 March.
As part of his role, Wilson will take charge of Tesco's retail and wholesale businesses in both Ireland and the UK, replacing Matt Davies in the role.
Background
Wilson has been with Booker Group since 1998, becoming the wholesale group's chief executive in 2005. He previously held roles with Procter & Gamble and Marks & Spencer, among others.
At Tesco, Wilson will have a base salary of £575,000 per annum, as well as having access to performance related bonuses and pension entitlements.
Handover
Matt Davies will remain at Tesco to facilitate the handover until the end of April 2018, when he will leave the company, Tesco said.
“I am delighted Charles will be joining the Tesco Board and Executive Committee," said Dave Lewis, Tesco chief executive.
"He brings substantial commercial and retail experience and has an exceptional track record of increasing performance and driving growth in customer-focused businesses. Charles is ideally suited to lead the UK & ROI business for the combined group in the next phase of our turnaround."
Lewis also thanked Matt Davies for what he described as an "outstanding contribution" to Tesco over the last three years.
"His values based leadership and invaluable support have been instrumental to the significant progress we have made in the transformation of the UK & ROI business," he said.
Commenting on the appointment, analyst Bruno Monteyne of Bernstein Research said, "The appointment clarifies the question of what Charles Wilson's role will be in the combined Tesco Booker group. Charles Wilson has an excellent track record at Booker and we expect the appointment to be taken positively by the market, with Charles leading ~80% of the group, rather than just the Booker B2B activities."
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
