Nisa chief executive Nick Read has become the latest new retail boss to make sweeping changes to his senior management team in a bid to arrest poor trading.
Finance director Simon Webster, IT director Wayne Swallow and Raj Krishan, format and development director have all left the business with immediate effect while Nisa has appointed a new interim chief financial officer, Guy Smith and trading director, Stewart Smith.
Guy Smith joins from Rentokil Initial, where he served as head of investor relations and chief financial officer. He previously held roles as finance director at Coca-Cola and Diesel Fashion.
Trading director Stewart Smith joins from Tesco, where he held a number of senior trading roles, most recently as group commercial wholesale director.
The moves have echoes of the management changes at Morrisons under new CEO David Potts, with whom Read worked closely during his time at Tesco.
Read joined Nisa at the end of February. He has been charged with steering the company’s growth and tackling the challenge of an increasingly competitive high street.
“We are shaping a clear future for Nisa that is focused on delivering best in class support for our member retailers. This will mean doing the basics well; buying the right products at the right price, while offering shoppers good value, and ensuring that we deliver on our promises to members,” said Read.
“Nisa has seen record numbers of retailers joining in the last year and the launch of an award winning own label range. The building blocks are now in place for a sustained programme of growth. We have a leaner and more agile management team that is focused on delivering our goals and has the skills to accelerate the development process.”
There is little doubt that Read joined the business at a tough time for Nisa. Just three weeks before he started, a leaked email to members from FD Webster warned that “Nisa was facing some tough decisions”.
It revealed that while the business had “replaced most of” the £200m in turnover following the departure of Costcutter, its largest member, a “challenging Christmas had compounded the lost volume.
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