Tesco taps up ex-Asda man Norman

Tesco is reportedly lining up former Asda boss Archie Norman to succeed Sir Richard Broadbent as chairman, as new reports claim the current round of job cuts could go far deeper than first thought.
Norman would appear to have the perfect credentials for the Tesco job; along with Allan Leighton, he is credited with turning Asda from a near bankrupt business in 1991 into the second largest supermarket in the UK, before its sale to Wal-Mart in June 1999.
The move would pit him against John Allan, the deputy chairman of Dixons Carphone, although he is also said to be a contender to succeed Donald Brydon as chairman of Royal Mail. Norman is currently chairman of the ITV board of directors, a role he has held since January 2010.
It coincides with reports that up to 10,000 jobs are now at risk under new chief executive Dave Lewis turnaround plan.
According to the Sunday Telegraph Lewis wants to remove an entire layer of management from Tesco shops. The managers affected, who work between the store manager and shop assistants, will be offered alternative roles, but it is not clear if these will be on the same level of pay or even full-time.
This is in addition to the 2,000 jobs that will go from Tesco’s head offices – including marketing roles – and the 43 stores that the company is closing.
Lewis, who earned the nickname “Drastic Dave” after cutting hundreds of jobs and scrapping products at Unilever almost a decade ago, has seen some evidence that the supermarket is turning a corner.
It increased sales by 0.3% for the 12 weeks to February 1, compared with the same period last year, according to Kantar Worldpanel research, and attracted an additional 236,000 shoppers into its stores during the period.
However, Tesco is continuing to lose UK market share to Aldi, Lidl and Waitrose, which all saw rises in sales and market share.

Tesco taps up ex-Asda man Norman

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