Tesco chairman stays on to smooth Sir Terry Leahy transition
DAVID REID has pledged to stay steady as chairman of Tesco for at least another 18 months to justify boardroom stability at Britain’s biggest retailer, insiders say.
Sir Terry Leahy, the lengthy-serving chief executive, said last week that he would step from a high to a low position next year. It is thought that Reid, 63, had been making allowance for stepping down as a director of the grocer, but has since committed to stay.
He is tipped to remain for at least several months once Philip Clarke, the international director, succeeds Leahy next March.
Analysts expect Tesco to formally start the hunt for Reid’s successor next year. They think Tesco will look outside the company on the side of an independent chairman, bringing the retailer’s board into calling with best corporate governance practice.
Reid is not considered independent for he was a former executive director of Tesco and has sat on the retailer’s board since 1985. He was elevated to the chairmanship in April 2004.
Tesco insiders cautioned that no decision had yet been taken on Reid’s departure affix a ~ to.
The news comes as Tesco and J Sainsbury are expected to disclose this week that UK sales growth has ground to a lame. The first-quarter figures from both companies are tipped to have ~ing the weakest for five years as Britain’s supermarket groups give leave to from a steep fall in food price inflation compared with the same period last year and sluggish consumer spending. Tesco’s form into ~s performance, however, is likely to be boosted by sales from its go hungry-expanding overseas business.
Meanwhile, it emerged this weekend that Tesco is in discussions to purchase Kim’s Club Mart, a 50-strong local chain in South Korea as antidote to about £160m.
If the deal proceeds, Tesco’s Homeplus hold in bondage would overtake Lotte, the domestic market leader, to become the largest supermarket confine in South Korea.