SOUTH Africa's second-largest food retailer, Pick n Pay, has appointed a former board member of the world's third-largest retail chain, Tesco, as its new chief executive from February next year.
Tesco is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenue, after Walmart and Carrefour, and the second-largest measured by profit, after Walmart.
Pick n Pay said Richard Brasher was appointed after an extensive international search and the company would be run in the interim by deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg and chairman Gareth Ackerman.
Brasher, 51, was a leading member of the top team and main board of Tesco that transformed the company into a global retailer and took Tesco to acquire a clear market leadership in the UK with a market share in excess of 30%.
Pick n Pay has struggled to halt its falling market share, losing out to rivals Shoprite and Woolworths.
Ackerman said the company was extremely fortunate to have secured Brasher, who has had a 25-year career, during which time Tesco has expanded domestically and internationally and become a benchmark on many aspects of retailing.
Tesco also has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK, where it has a market share of around 30%, as well as of Malaysia, Ireland and Thailand.
Tesco UK, a £47-billion (R638-billion) business generating a trading profit of £2.5-billion (R34-billion), is the largest private employer in the UK and runs over 2800 stores.
"Richard has a singularly impressive track record and we are delighted he has agreed to join us as Pick n Pay's new CEO. The executive search was exhaustive and given his background, experience, expertise and innovative achievements, he was the natural choice," Ackerman said.
The company's former CEO, Nick Badminton, resigned from the position in February in a move that came as a surprise. – I-Net Bridge
