Name: Dean Moore
Was: Chief financial officer at T&S Stores
Now: Chief financial officer at N Brown

Background: In 2002, a convenience war erupted in the UK. Alldays was snapped up by The Co-operative Group for £131m and two days later, Tesco bought 850 T&S Stores for £530m, taking its share of the convenience market to 5%. CFO Dean Moore took a year off before heading to N Brown.

What was the atmosphere like at T&S before and after the Tesco acquisition? “The first the staff knew about the deal was when it was signed and through. It was a surprise to many, but the staff were very well-treated by Tesco. Most of the jobs were retained at the T&S head office in the West Midlands.”

Was Tesco a hard negotiator? “Of course, it’s Tesco! But they were pretty fair, we were treated well and they delivered what they promised. They were quite tough, but we had sites they needed. They were coming up against planning restrictions for opening their Express stores and we had 1,300 in prime positions, and the right size. There was a compelling case for them to buy the business, which put us in a strong position to negotiate.”

Biggest achievement in grocery? “In my first year at T&S, I implemented a £30m change management programme in under nine months. That was very successful. And it enabled us to sell to Tesco, because Tesco wouldn’t have been interested in buying a business without appropriate systems. It enabled us to run our stores efficiently and ultimately sell them to Tesco further down the line.”

What’s next? “I’ve been here for 10 years. I never wanted to leave food retailing but my job came to a natural end when we sold to Tesco. Since joining N Brown, the business has doubled turnover and profits. I’m not sure what’s next, who knows what’s around the corner?”

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