Sir Terry Leahy, chief executive of UK supermarket Tesco, has denied a newspaper report that he is about to quit, reports the BBC.
Before picking up an award for being the “most admired leader” in British industry on Thursday night, he told the BBC that he had “no plans to move on”.
“I have plenty to do here at Tesco – it’s a wonderful business,” said Sir Terry.
The City AM newspaper said the Tesco chief was leaving to take up a role as the government’s health tsar.
The paper said Sir Terry had decided to quit back in October, and that the company would announce his departure in the Christmas period.
Tesco described the story as “complete nonsense”.
Sir Terry joined Tesco’s marketing department in 1979, and helped implement its clubcard scheme in the 1990s.
He was given the top job in 1997 and is set to steer the company to a GBP2bn (US$3.5bn) profit by the end of the current trading year.
