Simply Be and Jacamo owner N Brown Group today said that Tesco, Halfords and Pets at Home veteran Matt Davies would be its next chairman.
Davies will join the home shopping group as chairman on May 1, after he steps down from three years in charge of Tesco in the UK. He takes over from Andrew Higginson, who has held the role for five years and is now to retire.
Andrew Higginson said: “We are delighted to welcome Matt Davies to N Brown. Matt is a first-class retailer and brings a wealth of experience to the group. He has a proven track record of value creation across retail and online through his roles as CEO of Tesco UK and ROI and as CEO of Halfords and Pets at Home. It has been a privilege to chair the company through the past five years, and I wish the business every success in the coming years.”
At N Brown Group , Davies will work closely with chief executive Angela Spindler. The move comes at a time when N Brown Group has seen its business move ever further online from its roots in catalogue sales. In its Christmas trading update it said 74% of its sales took place online in the third quarter of its financial year. The company pioneered the opening of a network of stores to complement its online presence but has since moved to close stores as traffic moved further online.
Matt Davies said: “I am delighted and excited to be taking on this role. I am really looking forward to working with Angela, her team and my fellow Non-Executive Directors to further develop and grow the N Brown business.”
Senior independent director Ron McMillan, who led the selection process, said: “Having conducted a thorough process it was clear that Matt was the best fit to be our next chair. He has huge experience of retail and online businesses and will be a strong addition to the N Brown board, bringing knowledge, leadership and customer focus. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Andy for his considerable help and guidance over the past five years and wish him well going forward.”
