Booker boss Charles Wilson will head up Tesco's UK business following the supermarket's £3.7bn (€4.2bn) takeover of the wholesaler. The appointment of Mr Wilson will see current UK and Ireland boss Matt Davies, who joined Tesco in 2015, leave the group in April 2018 after a handover period.
Mr Wilson began his career in 1986 with Procter & Gamble, after which he held roles at OC&C Strategy and Abberton Associates. In 1998 he became an executive director at Booker before taking the top job in 2005. In December, Tesco got the green light from the competition watchdog for its takeover of Booker.
Tesco has more than 3,000 stores across the UK, while Londis and Budgens owner Booker is the country's largest wholesaler. It supplies more than 5,000 stores under the Premier, Londis, Budgens and Family Shopper brands, as well as thousands of independent retailers and caterers.
A raft of rival wholesalers have raised concerns that the deal could see Booker benefit from improved supplier terms, making it difficult for them to compete. They argued that this could eventually kill competition and see Booker raise prices to the shops it supplies. But the CMA said Booker would be able to negotiate better terms from its suppliers for some of its groceries, and that it was likely to pass on these savings to the shops it supplies.
Tesco also said today that the group's trading performance is in line with expectations and it expects to deliver "at least" £1.575bn in operating profit for the full year.
@ 2018 - Checkout Magazine by Maev Martin
