ScS names Steve Carson chief executive

(Sharecast News) - ScS Group has appointed the former head of Holland & Barrett as its new chief executive, the furniture and floorings retailer confirmed on Wednesday.
In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting, ScS said Steve Carson would join on 6 January 2021 to ensure a smooth handover ahead of current incumbent David Knight's planned retirement.

Knight has been with ScS since 1988 and chief executive since 2002, but ScS said Carson - who left the health food chain at the start of 2020 - brought "deep knowledge and experience" in retail and leadership.

Prior to being group managing director at Holland & Barrett, Carson held various roles at Home Retail Group, where he was director of retail and customer operations until 2018, when the owner of Argos was acquired by J Sainsbury's.

Alan Smith, ScS chairman, said: "Finding a successor to a chief executive as capable and long-serving as David has not been easy, but I believe we have found an executive with the right mix of experience, skills and personality to take the group forward."

ScS also updated on trading on Wednesday. Underlying order intake in the 14 weeks to 31 October was ahead 31.7% on the previous year, but the second national lockdown led to a 65.2% decline between 1 and 21 November. In Wales, 7 stores shut between 23 October and 8 November, while in England, 81 shops closed on 5 November. They are currently scheduled to reopen on 2 December.

Overall, the order intake was ahead 15% in the 17 weeks to 21 November.

As at 1215 GMT, shares in ScS were largely flat at 197.5p.

Shore Capital said: "ScS has proved flexible through lockdowns 1.0 and 2.0, while a strong balance sheet provides considerable resilience that leaves new chief executive Steve Carson with a group well placed to be a medium to long-term winner."

ScS is a house stock at Shore Capital.