JD Sports to name B&Q veteran as boss

JD SPORTS is poised to hire a former B&Q executive as its new boss after Peter Cowgill’s abrupt departure two months ago.

The FTSE 100 company is close to appointing Regis Schultz, the ex-finance head of the DIY chain, as its new chief executive, Sky News first reported.

He is currently president of retail at Middle Eastern group Al-futtaim, which operates franchises for household brands overseas. Mr Schultz held several senior jobs at B&Q, which is owned by Kingfisher, and also ran Monoprix, the French supermarket.

A spokesman for JD Sports said: “We note the speculation with regards to our ongoing process to recruit a new chief. We reported during our annual meeting that this process was ongoing. That remains the case and we will update the market further when appropriate.”

In May, the company announced Mr Cowgill was stepping down from the sportswear chain after 18 years amid boardroom disagreements over succession and corporate governance.

His departure followed a review of its internal governance and controls, with JD Sports deciding it also needed to accelerate the “separation of the roles of chair and chief executive officer”.

Mr Cowgill, who has sold more than £50m of shares in the company in the past two years, had jointly held the roles of chairman and chief executive since 2014. This month, Andrew Higginson was appointed chairman at JD Sports.

The review into governance and controls came after JD Sports was fined £4.3m by the competition watchdog for a botched merger with smaller rival Footasylum. Video footage emerged of Mr Cowgill and Footasylum boss Barry Bown meeting in a car park while an investigation into the deal was ongoing.

The Competition and Markets Authority said they shared commercially sensitive information and failed to alert the watchdog about two meetings.