Budget retailer Pepco group has announced some major boardroom changes in order “to support accelerated transformation and focus on value creation”.
The owner of Pepco, Poundland and Dealz said non-executive chair Andy Bond has decided to step down from the role on the completion of the AGM in March after some 13 years with the group, but he’ll continue as a non-executive director.
The announcement preceded news that Poundland’s managing director in the UK, Austin Cooke, has left the discount chain shortly after ex-MD Barry Williams returned to take a seat on its board.
That news hasn’t been formally confirmed but was first reported by Retail gazette.
Cooke had become MD in autumn 2023 having moved from Pepco’s European operations. Williams is overseeing a comprehensive assessment on both Poundland and the Irish Dealz chain.
In its official announcement of its boardroom changes, Pepco added that Bond’s decision to step down comes “at a time when the core Pepco business has returned to good financial health”, although there’s no denying that the UK-based Poundland business continues to face major challenges as its latest management change highlights.
It said the board “would like to express their appreciation to Andy for his service as chair” and that he’ll be succeeded by Frederick Arnold, currently an independent non-executive director who joined the board in June 2024.
Arnold is a financial specialist with lots of experience in the UK and US and has served on the boards of a number of non-retail businesses. He began his career in banking.
Also, as part of the updated relationship agreement with the company, its majority shareholder, IBEX Topco Ltd “will have the right to recommend for nomination the chairs of the board and the remuneration committee as long as IBEX holds over 30% of the voting rights in the company’s stock”.
Pepco will in future have a smaller board with the resignation of non-executive director Maria Fernanda Mejia and executive director and CFO Neil Galloway, resulting in a board comprised of one executive director and seven non-executive directors.
It also announced the appointment of Willem Eelman as CFO. He’s “a highly experienced European CFO including 11 years with GrandVision and previous roles at C&A Europe and Unilever”.
Most of the changes will become effective as of the AGM on 12 March but Eelman joins this week, although he officially becomes CFO from the end of the upcoming AGM.
The company also said it intends to implement some “complementary governance changes to increase both the focus on and pace of value creation. These changes include creating enhanced alignment between stakeholder best interests and longer-term value creation via the introduction of multi-year equity grants as part of overall remuneration for senior leadership and non-executive directors”.
And CEO Stephan Borchert, along with Eelman and the management team will host a Capital Markets Day on 6 March, during which they’ll update on their strategic plans including “building on the momentum with the Pepco and Dealz businesses and a comprehensive assessment of Poundland and how to improve its trading performance”.
