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Waitrose boss Rob Collins to step down in £100m John Lewis cuts Waitrose boss Rob Collins to step down in £100m John Lewis cuts
(about 1 hour later)
Waitrose boss Rob Collins is to step down in January as part of a major management restructure at the supermarket’s parent group, the John Lewis Partnership, after the company suffered its first ever half-year loss. The Waitrose boss, Rob Collins, has quit the business as part of a radical overhaul that will merge the supermarket’s management with its sister chain John Lewis. .
John Lewis will axe one in three senior head office management posts – 75 out of 225 – as part of the reorganisation, which will save the company £100m. The posts of managing director for both Waitrose and the department stores chain are being eliminated. The retailers’ parent group, the John Lewis Partnership, will axe one in three senior head office management posts – 75 out of 225 – as part of the reorganisation, which will save the company £100m.
The posts of managing director for both Waitrose and the John Lewis department stores chain are being eliminated as the group cuts costs after falling to its first ever half-year loss.
Paula Nickolds, currently managing director of department stores, will become executive director of brand, heading marketing, service and digital innovation across the group.Paula Nickolds, currently managing director of department stores, will become executive director of brand, heading marketing, service and digital innovation across the group.
Operations across both brands will be headed by Andrew Murphy, currently director of IT and transformation for the group. Collins, who is paid about £1m a year, is expected to receive a year’s payoff, although the company would not confirm the terms of his departure.
He said: “I have been closely involved in the planning of the Future Partnership programme and I’m very confident that the new structure is the right one for the future. I am certain it will enable the business to continue its long history of successfully adapting to changing times. There isn’t a role in the new structure that I believe is right for me personally, and so I have decided to leave.”
Nickolds will sit on a new eight-strong executive board which teams from both John Lewis and Waitrose will report to. Operations across both brands will be headed by Andrew Murphy, currently director of IT and transformation for the group, and Patrick Lewis will continue as finance director. Bérangère Michel will head customer service and Tracey Killen will head people management while two new directors – for trading and strategy – are being sought.
Nickolds will no longer sit on the group’s partnership board, the company’s top management team. It will now have only two executive board members – Lewis and the incoming chair, Sharon White – alongside non-executives and directors elected by the group’s workforce.
Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “Our current structure has served us well in the past, enabling us to develop two of the UK’s most loved and trusted brands.Sir Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, said: “Our current structure has served us well in the past, enabling us to develop two of the UK’s most loved and trusted brands.
“In the last three years we have delivered significant innovation and driven efficiency, maintaining market leading service standards and growing customer numbers. However, the lesson of the last two years is that we need more innovation, faster decision making and bolder steps to align our operating model with our strategy. This is what the ‘Future Partnership’ is all about.” “In the last three years we have delivered significant innovation and driven efficiency, maintaining market leading service standards and growing customer numbers. However, the lesson of the last two years is that we need more innovation, faster decision making and bolder steps to align our operating model with our strategy. This is what the Future Partnership is all about.”
The company said its new structure would enable it to develop and set strategy across both its brands in one place, speed up decision-making and make internal and customer service systems more efficient. The group said it wanted to develop shared IT and supply chain platforms.
The restructure is likely to fuel rumours that the group will close or downsize one of its two head offices – in London’s Victoria and Bracknell near Reading.
The changes come after the partnership last month revealed it had made an underlying pretax loss of £25.9m in the six months to 27 July compared with a profit of £800,000 in the same period a year before.The changes come after the partnership last month revealed it had made an underlying pretax loss of £25.9m in the six months to 27 July compared with a profit of £800,000 in the same period a year before.
News of the restructuring comes four months before the arrival of Sharon White as chair of the group. White, currently chief executive of Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, is an economist by training and has worked at the World Bank and British embassy in Washington, as well as in Tony Blair’s policy unit at No 10, but has no background in retail. News of the restructuring comes four months before the arrival of White as chair of the group. White, currently chief executive of Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, is an economist by training and has worked at the World Bank and British embassy in Washington, as well as in Tony Blair’s policy unit at No 10, but has no background in retail.
Thomas Brereton, a retail analyst for GlobalData, praised the group’s efforts to cut costs in a tough market. But he said: “The long-term impact of running a unified strategy for two retailers with such a varied proposition is questionable.”
He added that the creation of new roles – particularly for Nickolds – “may cause initial disorientation.”
Richard Lim, the chief executive of analysis firm Retail Economics, described the changes as “an extremely bold move”.
He added: “The merging of both businesses signals a single-minded focus on delivering cost-saving efficiencies, improving productivity and creating a harmonised proposition to leverage value from their customer base.” He said the changes would help the business deliver consistent service across its online and high street outlets.
WaitroseWaitrose
John LewisJohn Lewis
Retail industryRetail industry
Job lossesJob losses
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