The chief executive of PLUS, Duncan Hoy, has stepped down after five years at the helm and will leave the company on 1 January 2024, according to media reports.
Hoy’s decision to leave PLUS was by mutual agreement, and the company believes that it is time for new leadership, according to a report in the publication Levensmiddelenkrant.
Under Hoy’s leadership, the merger of PLUS and Coop was executed, leading to the creation of a new cooperative, under the name PLUS UA.
With the merger, the group emerged as the third-largest supermarket operator in the Netherlands, with a national network of 550 stores and a combined consumer turnover of approximately €5 billion.
Harry Bruijniks, chair of the supervisory board, told the publication that Hoy led the company with “great commitment and enthusiasm” and it saw “strong organic turnover growth” in the first years before the merger.
Describing the merger as “a very decisive event for the future of the cooperative,” Bruijniks added, “With the new condition system, the new logistics infrastructure and the new distribution centres, we are well on track, marking the start of a new phase for PLUS.”
Store Rebranding
In April of last year, PLUS announced the opening of its first rebranded outlet since the merger, in Heeg, Friesland.
The new-look PLUS Gerritsma, operated by local entrepreneur Gerritsma te Heeg, was redeveloped according to the new ‘Briljant 2.0’ formula from PLUS.
At the time, Hoy said that the conversion process was likely to be a “gigantic operation”, albeit one that the group was looking forward to “with confidence”.
In 2018, he joined the retail group as its chief executive, succeeding Jan Brouwer in the role.
