Spanish retailer DIA Group has announced the appointment of Antonio Coto as its new chief executive officer.
Coto until now has held the position of executive manager at the Latin America and Partnerships divisions at DIA Group.
The appointment follows the termination of the contract of Ricardo Currás, the group's previous chief executive, at an extraordinary meeting held on 24 August. Currás has also resigned as a member of the board of directors of the company.
Currás' departure follows a poor start to the financial year for DIA, with the chief executive recently noting that half-year sales were “weaker than expected” in the first half of the year. Currás spent a total of 32 years at DIA Group, ten of which were as chief executive.
DIA said that the change in management reflects the fact that the company is 'at the end of a cycle that should lead to new plans that guarantee future success'.
New Strategy
Commenting on the appointment, chairwoman of the board of directors at DIA, Ana María Llopis, said, “I have all the confidence that [Antonio] will know how to bring the new strategy to fruition in light of the new challenges that we have ahead, and will take over the team that knows him and respects him, because previously, he was focused on identifying talent in his region.
"In addition to his extensive business experience at DIA, Antonio has a strong combination of financial and international experience, making the business grow in Argentina and Brazil, and which still has high growth potential. Besides, he has demonstrated in his region a strong focus on customers and the success of this management and support for Marketing has been proven by the group of savings experts in Argentina. He has also been very active in participating in Iberoamerican institutional initiatives in the sector.”
Having started his career as a consultant at the Spanish arm of Arthur Andersen & Co., Coto has been with DIA since 1986, first as financial planning and control manager at the business, before becoming joint general manager.
In 1997, he was appointed as CEO of the DIA Group in Argentina, and in 1999 assumed the role of head of Latin America. In 2010, he was also named head of the group's Partnerships division.
He holds a Master in Civil Engineering from Madrid’s Polytechnic University, a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Administration from UNED University in Spain and is graduated in Food Industry Management from the University of Southern California, USA.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
