Compass poaches Kingfisher CFO Karen Witts

(Sharecast News) - Compass Group has poached its new chief financial officer, Karen Witts, from B&Q owner Kingfisher.The catering group said on Thursday that Witts, who has been CFO at Kingfisher since 2012, will begin her appointment on a date to be agreed.Prior to her role at Kingfisher, Witts held senior finance positions at Vodafone and BT. Her early career included finance roles at Paribas, Grand Metropolitan and Ernst & Whinney. Witts - a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee at tobacco company Imperial Brands - will succeed Johnny Thomson who, as previously announced, is standing down at the end of December. Chief executive officer Dominic Blakemore said: "We are delighted to welcome Karen to Compass Group. Her financial and operational expertise will be highly complementary to our team and she brings with her a wealth of experience in retail and technology. I very much look forward to working with her as we continue to execute our strategy and create value for shareholders."Kingfisher said in a statement that it will conduct a search for a replacement but in the meantime, Witts will be staying on to allow a smooth handover of her responsibilities.At 1620 BST, Compass shares were up 1% to 1,558.50p and Kingfisher was 3.4% weaker at 252.20p.