Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis is to step down next summer after more than five years heading the supermarket.
He will be replaced by Ken Murphy who has spent more than 14 years at Boots where he was joint chief operating officer at Boots UK & Ireland before rising to executive vice president, chief commercial officer and president global brands at Walgreens Boots Alliance.
Prior to joining Boots in 2005, Murphy was head of Alliance Unichem’s Italian subsidiary.
Tesco chairman John Allan said: “Ken has values which align with our own, strong strategic and operating acumen, and is proven at the very top of a large and respected multinational retail group. I firmly believe we have the right person for the job. Ken has contractual commitments to his previous employer, and therefore we will announce his precise start date in due course.
Lewis said: “My decision to step down as group chief executive is a personal one. I believe that the tenure of the chief executive should be a finite one and that now is the right time to pass the baton. Our turnaround is complete, we have delivered all the metrics we set for ourselves.”
The announcement of Lewis’ departure comes as Tesco revealed plans to increase the rate of expansion of its Express store format in the UK. It aims to open another 150 stores over the next three years.
Tesco is also planning four new superstores in the UK and Ireland, and will repurpose its proposition in 153 Metro stores.
In addition, the company is planning to open three more Jack’s by February 2020, despite recently closing its first Jack’s store in Rawtenstall, Lancashire, which opened earlier this year. It is replacing the discount store with a Tesco supermarket.
Tesco said in its latest half-year results these store expansion plans were a result of managing to lower its build costs, the reduction of its operating costs and improvements in its margin.
During the first half of its current financial year, Tesco spent £400m, a similar level to the prior year, which was primarily focused on store maintenance and refits. It is anticipating full-year capital expenditure to be about £1.1bn.
For the 26 weeks to 24 August, Tesco reported revenue of £31.9bn, up from £31.7bn last year, and pretax profit of £494m, up from £463m in 2018.
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