Management Appointments

26 Jul 2006 07:01

Torex Retail PLC26 July 2006 Torex Retail Plc ("the Company") Announces non-Board appointments for Operational Management to deliver Organic Growth Strategy & Further strengthening of Finance Function Torex Retail Plc, an international market leader in the provision of innovativeretail IT systems, announces that following the completion of its 2006acquisition strategy, the Company's operational management is to be restructuredinto five newly created Divisions in order to fully focus on maximising organicgrowth opportunities in the coming period. As a result, the following senior internal appointments have been made,reporting directly to the Plc Board: • CEO of UK General Retail: Doug Hargrove (age 39) (Previously Chief Operating Officer, UK & Ireland) • CEO of Overseas Business: Phil Cox (age 39) (Previously Group Treasury Officer) • CEO of Hospitality & QSR ('Quick Service Restaurants'): Keith Pascal (age 41) (Previously VP Sales & Marketing, Savista Inc.) • CEO of P&C ('Petroleum & Convenience'): Brendan Kavanagh (age 41) (Previously Head of P&C Division Worldwide) • CEO of Americas General Retail: Mike Hess (age 43) (Previously President & COO of Torex North America) The Company is also pleased to today announce the appointment of Marcus Leek asGroup Finance Director with immediate effect. Marcus (age 31) joins from 4uBusiness Ltd (a part of the Caudwell Group) where he held the position ofFinance Director. He also has considerable experience in the retail sectorhaving worked for J. Sainsbury plc and Bells Stores Limited in a variety ofsenior finance roles. Marcus is an industry trained Chartered Accountant. Reporting directly to Mark Pearman, Marcus will be responsible for all groupfinancial matters. Marcus will be part of the wider senior management team atTorex as well as playing a leading role in the finance function. He will alsoplay an active part in investor relations. Continuing Plc Finance Director and Business Development Director Mark Pearmancommented: "I am delighted that we have secured the services of Marcus. He is highlyqualified and his relevant industry experience and energy make him the choicecandidate; we expect him to make an immediate contribution to the Group". Supporting Marcus will be Mark Lovett (age 32) as UK Finance Director. Markjoins Torex Retail from Xansa plc, an IT and Business Process Outsourcingprovider, where for the past 12 months he was Finance Director for the Financialand Business services division. Prior to that, Mark was Financial Controller forthe Retail division, where he worked on new and existing contracts withretailers such as Boots, Tesco, B&Q and Marks & Spencer. Having trained as aChartered Accountant with KPMG, Mark subsequently held a number of financepositions with Misys plc in the UK, North America and Far East. On the new management appointments, Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Moorestated: "Following the completion of our recent acquisition strategy, we have nowachieved the sufficient scale necessary to compete globally. It was clear thatas we entered our next phase of organic-focused growth, we needed an experiencedmanagement team and structure that could successfully drive this strategythroughout the Group. The five new CEO appointments reflect this and will alsomake for a clearer reporting structure at Board level. It was also important for us to strengthen our internal finance function toreflect the new size of the Company. I am delighted to have secured thehigh-calibre services of Marcus Leek and Mark Lovett who join us with clearfinancial and industry focus in Retail and IT". Torex Retail Plc will announce interim results for the six months ended 30 June2006 on Monday, 14 August. As stated in the recent 11 July trading update,management expect these results to be slightly ahead of analyst's expectationsand remain confident for the full year. -Ends- Enquiries: Torex Retail PlcChris Moore, Chairman & Chief Executive +44 (0)870 300 6061 Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0)20 7638 9571Seb Hoyle / Lucie Holloway This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange