UK retailer The Co-operative Group has appointed Kingfisher executive Euan Sutherland as its new CEO.
Sutherland, 43, will take up the role in May next year, the UK’s fifth largest grocer said today (19 December). Sutherland, COO at home improvement retailer Kingfisher, owner of B&Q stores, will replace Peter Marks, who announced his retirement from the business this summer.
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Sutherland is also an existing non-executive director of the Co-op’s food board, which should enable him to hit the ground running as the group seeks to navigate an increasingly competitive food retail sector, as well as build a bridgehead in high street banking.
“The challenge is to build upon the success that has been achieved in recent years and the solid foundations that have been laid,” said Sutherland.
The Co-op’s chairman, Ken Wardle, added: “He brings with him considerable experience of the strategic leadership needed in complex customer-facing businesses, across a variety of retail sectors.”
In August, following news of Marks’ planned retirement, Conlumino analyst Joseph Robinson called for a “step-change” in investment at the Co-op. He said it was needed for it to remain competitive with larger grocers, particularly Tesco and Sainsbury’s, which continue to move into the Co-op’s convenience heartland.
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