Tesco chief Philip Clarke to step down

LONDON (AP) — Tesco says Chief Executive Officer Philip Clarke will be stepping down after the latest earnings figures showed Britain’s largest retailer by revenue struggled at home.

Tesco announced Monday that Dave Lewis, currently an executive at Unilever, would become CEO in the fall after the company issued a profit warning describing challenging trading conditions.

Since being named CEO in 2011, Clarke had taken steps to bolster the company’s U.K. business by striving to improve the customer experience, but the company faced intense competition from retailers catering to customers cutting costs in tough economic times.

Phil Dorrell, director of retail consultants Retail Remedy, says Clarke tried to “boil an ocean” and that the result of “trying to change everything was that he achieved little and both customers and shareholders were let down.”

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Federal News Network Logo
Log in to your WTOP account for notifications and alerts customized for you.

Sign up