City veteran Gerry Murphy was lined up to replace John Allan as Tesco chairman, according to reports
City veteran Gerry Murphy has been reportedly lined up to replace John Allan as Tesco chairman.
Murphy, 67, is already chairman of luxury fashion house Burberry and sweetener maker Tate & Lyle.
It comes after Allan left the group in May following a series of anonymous allegations of personal misconduct, including that he “grabbed” an employee at an event in 2019. Allan has said this was “just not true.”
Tesco’s own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing, but it said the claims of inappropriate behavior threatened to become a distraction for the company.
Murphy has a long and accomplished career in retail.
New face: Gerry Murphy is stepping down from Tate & Lyle on September 1 to ensure he has ‘sufficient capacity’ to act as chairman of Tesco
He previously managed B&Q owner Kingfisher and served on the boards of Dettol maker Reckitt Benckiser and British American Tobacco and chaired the European arm of private equity titan Blackstone.
Murphy will step down from Tate & Lyle on September 1 to ensure he has “sufficient capacity” to act as chairman of Tesco.
He will join the £17.7bn supermarket at a time when the industry is being accused of profiteering and under scrutiny for making huge profits during the cost of living crisis.
Last week, Tesco’s commercial director Gordon Gafa defended the group before a committee of MPs, saying it spent £560m to keep prices down for shoppers. Allan was at the helm of Tesco for eight years. He arrived as the company was cutting thousands of jobs under plans by then CEO Sir Dave Lewis.