LONDON (Alliance News) - EasyJet PLC Monday poached Halfords Group PLC Chief Financial Officer Andrew Findlay to the same position at the low-cost airline, with the car-parts and bicycles retailer starting a search for a replacement.
Findlay will remain at Halfords until the end of October, having been CFO of the company since February 1, 2011. Prior to that he held finance roles at Marks & Spencer Group PLC, the London Stock Exchange Group PLC and Cable & Wireless.
"I and the easyJet team are delighted to welcome Andrew as CFO. He is a proven FTSE 250 CFO with great consumer experience and a strong focus on cost. He is part of the leadership team at Halfords which has created a much more customer centric and profitable business. Andrew is a great fit for easyJet and I am sure he will add a lot of value to the airline," easyJet Chief Executive Carolyn McCall said in a statement.
Findlay's appointment at easyJet comes after Chris Kennedy said in January that he intended to leave the airline to become CFO at ARM Holdings PLC. EasyJet said Monday that it will make announcement on Kennedy's departure date in "due course". He has a notice period of up to a year.
Separately, Halfords said trading in the final quarter of its financial year was in line with management expectations. It will release its results for the year to April 3 on June 5.
Findlay's departure from Halfords comes after the company last month said that McDonald's Corp's current head of UK and Northwest European operations, Jill McDonald, will become chief executive from May 11, after its current CEO previously resigned after being poached by Tesco PLC.
Halfords had announced in January that current CEO Matt Davies had resigned to become the head of UK and Irish operations at Tesco and would be leaving the company at the end of May.
"I have greatly enjoyed my time with Halfords and I am exceptionally proud of the progress the business has made over the last few years. I am sad to be leaving, but the opportunity to join easyJet was too attractive to turn down," Findlay said in the Halfords statement.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @stevemcgrath1
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