Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Tesco fast tracks new finance chief to help with fall out from profit crisis

Published:  23 September, 2014

Tesco has pushed the start date forward of its new chief financial officer Alan Stewart to October 1 instead of December 1 after the fallout of yesterday's misstatement of profits.

TescoTescoTesco

Tesco has pushed the start date forward of it's new chief financial officer Alan Stewart to October 1 instead of December 1 after the fallout of yesterday's misstatement of profits.

Alan Stewart was set to replace Laurie McIlwee, who resigned in April but left the company just over a week ago.  Mcllwee received close to £1 million payout after agreeing to stay for an additional six months after his resignation.

Stewart was on "gardening leave" after leaving Marks & Spencer where he was the chief financial officer. He formally announced his departure on July 10. The new chief executive officer, Dave Lewis, appealed to the M&S leadership team to release Stewart from his contractual notice period early after reporting yesterday that they had overstated profits by £250 million for the first six months of the fiscal year.

Dave Lewis, who is new to his role at Tesco, had to move his start date forward to help the struggling supermarket chain.  Initially, previous CEO Philip Clarke was set to hand over the reins of the company in October, but after a second profit warning last month, Tesco's board decided to move Lewis's start date forward to the beginning of this month.

Tesco

The announcement yesterday of the £250 million misstatement of profits was another signal that retail giant has not been able to pull out of its market tailspin. It has had two profit warning already this year and slashed its dividend by 75%. The company has lost more than 43.42% of its stock price compared to a year ago and closed at a 52-week low yesterday of under £200 per share (LSE: TSCO).

Tesco head of online operations Robin TerrellTesco head of online operations Robin TerrellHead of online operations Robin Terrell is heading up Tesco UK temporarily

The £250 million misstatement of profits is currently being investigated and four of Tesco's senior leaders in the UK have been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. In the interim, the head of Tesco's online operation Robin Terrell was temporarily named as head of the UK business.

The profits that have been reportedly misrepresented were related to payments made by suppliers to Tesco for items such as product promotions and when those payments were recognised by accounting. 

Keywords: