City veteran Gerry Murphy lined up to replace John Allan as Tesco chairman, reports say
City veteran Gerry Murphy has been lined up to replace John Allan as Tesco chairman, according to reports.
Murphy, 67, already chairs 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 said this was “just untrue.”
Tesco’s own investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing, but said allegations of inappropriate behavior risked becoming a distraction to the business.
Murphy has a long and experienced career in the retail industry.
New face: Gerry Murphy will leave his role at Tate & Lyle on September 1 to ensure he has “sufficient capacity” to act as Tesco chairman
He previously led Kingfisher, owner of B&Q, 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 leave his role at Tate & Lyle on September 1 to ensure he has “sufficient capacity” to act as Tesco chairman.
It will join the £17.7bn supermarket at a time when the industry has been accused of speculation and is under close scrutiny for posting huge profits during the cost-of-living crisis.
Last week, Tesco’s commercial director Gordon Gafa defended the group in front of a committee of MPs, saying it was spending £560m to keep prices low for shoppers. Allan headed Tesco for eight years. He arrived as the company was cutting thousands of jobs under plans laid out by then chief executive Sir Dave Lewis.
