AT last, a retailer is running a retailer was the sigh of relief following news that Jason Tarry has been named the next chairman of John Lewis Partnership.
The Tesco veteran replaces Dame Sharon White, whose four years in charge of the John Lewis and Waitrose business has been dogged by criticism of her zero retail experience.
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Instead, Tarry has spent 33 years at the biggest UK retailer, joining Tesco as a graduate trainee in 1990.
He has looked after its F&F clothing division and for the last six years run the UK and Ireland stores, where Tesco has revived growth after disaster struck under former boss Philip Clarke’s brief reign.
One senior retail source, who worked with Tarry at Tesco, said: “He’s all over the detail, he’s exactly what they need.”
Tarry said that Lewis’s employee ownership model, its values and customer service “starts with a sharp focus on being brilliant retailers for customers and investing in growth”.
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After surviving a no confidence vote last year, Dame Sharon had said she would go when her term ends next February.
But the hiring of Tarry, who left Tesco in March and takes over in September, hastens her exit to make her the shortest-serving chairman since the post was created in 1955.
Dame Sharon, who joined from Ofcom and the Treasury, said: “It’s been a huge privilege to be chairman and I’m proud of what everyone has achieved.”
She took the job four weeks before Covid forced the closure of stores for the first time.
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She went on to shut 16 department stores permanently in a cost-cutting turnaround plan that has failed to convince critics.
While John Lewis recently returned to profits it still denied staff a long-cherished bonus.
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Economist Mark Gregory said: “How anyone thought a career civil servant with no commercial experience would be the right person to run a challenged retailer remains a mystery.”
Retail analyst Richard Hyman said of Tarry: “The key issues JLP faces are retail ones and you need a retailer to fix them.”
NEW BOEING FEAR
THOSE with a fear of flying have fresh reasons to avoid Boeing after another bit of aircraft blew off mid-flight.
A SouthWest Airline plane had to make an emergency landing in Denver at the weekend after a 737 Boeing engine cover fell off. It is the latest mishap after a door peg fell off an Alaska Air flight in January and two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing’s boardroom was cleared out and it lost almost a third of its value since the start of the year, but yesterday investors barely reacted.
TAIL OF A HACK
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VETS chain CVS is the latest British company to be hit by a cyber attack.
The firm warned its 9,100 staff at 450 practices that there is a risk that personal employee information, such as names, addresses and payroll details, might have been breached.
It did not reveal if it knows the culprit but told investors it caused “considerable” disruption”. It comes after Royal Mail, British Airways, Boots and the BBC were hit with ransom cyber attacks.
JIBES AT ABRDN NT FNNY
A BOSS at asset manager ABRDN is whining that mocking its vowel-less rebranding is “corporate bullying”.
The company was created in 2021 from a merger of Standard Life and Aberdeen. But its name drew howls of derision.
Wags called it a case of “irritable vowel syndrome”.
But its chief investment officer Peter Branner appears to have had enough of the jibes.
He told Financial News: “I understand corporate bullying to some extent is part of the game with the press — even though it’s a little childish to keep hammering the missing vowels in our name.
“Would you do that with an individual?
“How would you look at a person who makes fun of your name day in day out?
“It’s probably not ethical to do it. But apparently with companies it is different.”
Abrdn’s share price has halved since the rebrand three years ago.
It’s a consonant struggle.
SHELL’S CITY ALERT
SHELL’s boss has threatened to quit the London Stock Exchange for New York if its share price doesn’t improve by the end of next year.
It would be a huge blow to the City as Shell is the biggest company listed in London with about £20billion held by UK pension funds.
Chief exec Wael Sawan said “we have to look at all options” if the valuation gap between Shell and its US rivals Exxon Mobil and Chevron did not close.
Shell is valued at £180billion, while Exxon is worth £378billion in New York.
MICRO’S NEW UK A.I. HUB
MICROSOFT opened a new artificial intelligence hub in London, a year after its boss called the UK “closed for business”.
The tech giant revealed a new AI division in Paddington as part of its plans to pump £2.5billion into the UK.
Microsoft bosses had accused the UK of being bad for investment last year after the competition regulator blocked its takeover of game-maker Activision Blizzard.
The deal went through after big concessions.
Mustafa Suleyman, boss of Microsoft AI and co-founder of DeepMind, which was bought by Google, said: “I’m deeply aware of the extraordinary talent pool and AI eco-system in the UK, and I’m excited to make this commitment to the UK on behalf of Microsoft AI.”
Microsoft said it would be “actively hiring exceptional individuals”.
It comes amid reports that British tech workers are cheaper to hire than their American peers.
CAKE BOX IS RISING
CAKE BOX has sweetened its profit expectations for the year after a boost in sales.
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The retailer, which has 205 shops selling its egg-free delicacies, said sales had grown by 9 per cent in the past year, helped by new store openings.
Cake Box, valued at £66million, said profits would be “slightly ahead” of forecasts as it has also been helped by easing food inflation. It hinted cake prices could start to fall to secure customer demand.
