Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, have announced that Chief Executive Philip Clarke will step down in the later part of 2014. Consequently, a profits warning has workers and stakeholders worried.
54 year old Philip Clarke, who has been at the helm for 3 years, will be replaced in October by outsider and Unilever Director Dave Lewis, Tesco have said in a statement.
The news comes after the Group suffered its largest quarterly sales drop in four decades as the company struggles with what are described as “challenging” trading conditions.
“Tesco Plc announces that Dave Lewis will join the board of Tesco on 1st October, 2014 as Chief Executive Officer in succession to Philip Clarke,” the company said. “Philip Clarke will continue as Chief Executive until that date when he will step down from the board but will continue to be available to support the transition until the end of January 2015.”
Dave Lewis, 49, has worked as Global President in Personal Care at Dutch food and cosmetics firm Unilever for almost 28 years, during which time he has been responsible for a number of business turnarounds, Tesco said.
