Shock for Tesco after sudden departure of exec
Tesco's shaky times just won't quit; the latest blow to the retailer giant is the sudden exit of business transformation director Jill Easterbrook after last than 12 months in the role.
Print8 December 2015
Tesco’s share price took a hit on Monday when news emerged that Jill Easterbrook, the ailing retailer’s business transformation director, announced that she would leave the company early in 2016, less than 12 months after taking the role.
Easterbrook, who was brought on board as part of CEO Dave Lewis’s plan to repair the company’s image after a disastrous 2014, said in her statement that she had completed her work and that the role of transformation director was now redundant. Despite these claims, investors were spooked by the departure, and shares dropped by 5.6p to 157p. This testy behaviour is likely because no other signs have emerged recently of a turnaround at Tesco. UK sales in the second quarter were down by 1%, while half-year operating profits have halved to £354m, and the share price has fallen 14% over the year.
In a statement, Tesco agreed that Easterbrook’s role as transformation director was a temporary one.
Late last year, Tesco was left in freefall after a financial scandal in which the company allegedly inflated profits, triggering a criminal probe. Lewis was brought on shortly afterwards , and has been working to rehabilitate the company’s profile ever since.
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