Tesco has appointed John Allan as chairman, ending a near four-month search for a successor to Richard Broadbent.
Allan, 66, will take up the post on 1 March, Cheshunt, England-based Tesco said in a statement.
Allan, whose past corporate roles have included the chairmanship of UK retailer Dixons Retail, joins Tesco chief executive officer Dave Lewis in seeking to restore stability to the supermarket chain. Tesco has been reeling amid an accounting scandal and a series of profit warnings, as the company loses market business to discounters Aldi and Lidl.
“Following a deep and thorough process run by a committee of independent non-executive directors, the board unanimously agreed that John Allan was the right candidate to chair Tesco at this important time,” Patrick Cescau, the retailer’s senior independent director, said in the statement.
Allan was chairman of Dixons Retail from 2009 until last year, when the retailer merged with Carphone Warehouse Group to form Dixons Carphone. He’s currently senior independent director at Dixons, and chairman of housebuilder Barratt Developments. His previous posts include chief financial officer at Deutsche Post AG, Europe’s biggest postal service, and CEO of Exel.
Allan’s broad experience “should provide valuable insights to a Tesco business undergoing marked change”, according to John Kershaw, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas.
Still, there may be some disappointment after recent speculation linking Archie Norman, the former CEO of the Asda supermarket chain, to the post, Kershaw said.
At Tesco, Allan will receive a fee of £650,000 ($998,530) per annum, fixed for three years, the company said.
Broadbent said in October that he planned to step down. Accounting irregularities that led to a £263-million profit overstatement were “a matter of profound regret”, the outgoing chairman said at the time.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
