Asda has also confirmed that Andy Clarke and David Cheesewright will rejoin the board, while Angela Spindler will take up the newly created role of customer strategy director.
President and chief executive officer Andy Bond confirmed today that about 200 management jobs will be phased out as the Leeds and Lutterworth centres as roles are merged and re-focused.
In stores the management structure will also be simplified, with the loss of 1,200 jobs.
Bond also announced changes to the executive team, with Andy Clarke returning after a three-year absence to become retail director - a position he left in 2002 to work at Matalan and then Iceland. Clarke will also be responsible for Asda's financial services business. He will start on September 5.
David Cheesewright will return from a 12-month attachment as chief operating officer for Wal-Mart in Canada to be chief operating officer and trading director for Asda, with overall responsibility for both trading and logistics. He will take up the role on October 1.
Spindler, currently marketing and trading director begins her new job on October 1 She will be responsible for marketing, Asda Brand, customer service, format development and business strategy.
'While our sales have slowed in recent months as the economy's tightened, Asda is no retail straggler,' insisted Bond. 'Over the past six years we've created an additional 40,000 jobs across Britain and experienced rapid growth. But I'm simply not satisfied with this year's average performance - our natural home is out-performance and today's changes put in place the teams - at board level, Asda House and in the stores - that will re-ignite our business over the next 12 to 18 months.'
Sainsbury's has announced the appointment of John McAdam to its board. Dr McAdam will become the company's senior independent director and will join Sainsbury's on September 1. He is currently chief executive of ICI and was previously with Unilever.
No comments yet