Co-operative Group Ltd, the UK customer-owned retailer whose future was placed in jeopardy by losses at its banking unit, named retail veteran Richard Pennycook as its permanent leader six months after he stepped into the chief executive officer role on a temporary basis.
Pennycook, who has more than two decades of experience at consumer-facing businesses including grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc and retailer Laura Ashley Holdings Plc, takes the CEO post with immediate effect, Co-op said today in a statement.
Co-op, based in Manchester, England, is seeking to implement a turnaround after plunging to a loss of 2.5 billion pounds ($4.1 billion) last year and giving up control of its banking division to help plug a capital shortfall. Since taking on his caretaker role after the resignation of former CEO Euan Sutherland, Pennycook has overseen disposals including the company’s pharmacy chain and security business Sunwin.
“We have taken major steps forward over the last six months, securing governance reform and repairing the balance sheet, but we have much to do to return the group to full financial health,” Pennycook, 50, said in the statement.
The CEO, who joined Co-op last year as finance director, today reported a decline in earnings for the first half of this year. Operating profit slid to 43 million pounds from 105 million pounds a year earlier, the company said. Net debt was 1.4 billion pounds, unchanged from the end of last year.
Bloomberg News edited by ESM
