Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

RNS Number : 1137I

Halfords Group PLC

23 March 2015

 



23 March 2015

Halfords Group plc

Appointment of Chief Executive Officer

Halfords Group plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Jill McDonald as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) with effect from 11 May 2015.

Jill is currently CEO, UK & President, North West Division, Europe for McDonald's Corporation. She joined McDonald's in 2006 as Chief Marketing Officer UK & Northern Europe and was appointed to her current role in 2010.

Her responsibilities at McDonald's encompass around 3,300 owned and franchised restaurants across 7 countries, more than 500 franchisees and over 200,000 colleagues.  During Jill's tenure, the public perception of the McDonald's brand and business has been transformed in the UK with strong investment in menu, customer insight and experience, and colleague development, leading to consistently impressive results.

Jill began her career in 1987 at Colgate Palmolive in brand management and joined British Airways in 1990 where she held a number of marketing and management roles in the UK and Hong Kong, rising to Head of Global Marketing in 2004.

Dennis Millard, Chairman, commented:

"When the Board began the search for a new CEO we were clear that we were looking for an outstanding business leader, particularly someone who had built and nurtured a culture of customer service and colleague engagement in a consumer facing business. So we are delighted to have recruited Jill, who has  a strong track record of heading a large, complex, service-led business with great success. Jill will lead our high-calibre team and further develop Halfords' successful service-based growth strategy. I'm really excited that we have attracted someone of Jill's calibre who will build on what we've achieved over the last few years and we all really look forward to working with her."

Jill McDonald commented:

"Halfords is a business and brand that  resonates with me and the UK public and I am delighted to be joining the company.  Halfords has already made significant progress in delivering its service-led growth strategy and I look forward to joining such a strong team to continue to build on that success."

Jill is a non-executive director of Intercontinental Hotels Group plc.  There is no further information to be disclosed on Jill McDonald under paragraph 9.6.13 of the UK Listing Authority Listing Rules.

Halfords will report its preliminary results for the 53 weeks ended 3 April 2015 on 5 June 2015.

Enquiries

Halfords
Dennis Millard	Chairman	[phone]
Andrew Findlay	Chief Financial Officer
Adam Phillips	Head of Investor Relations

Maitland

Neil Bennett

[phone]

Summary of Jill McDonald's Remuneration

Jill's remuneration package includes an annual basic salary of £500,000.  Her maximum annual bonus entitlement is 150% of salary, prorated to service for 2015/16. One-third of her bonus will be deferred into shares for a period of three years. Jill will be entitled to participate in the Company's Performance Share Plan (PSP) from August 2015, when the intention is to make an award of PSP shares, normally up to 150% of salary. The vesting of PSP awards will be subject to stretching performance conditions. Halfords will compensate Jill for her existing entitlement to long term incentives and share options with McDonald's on a like-for-like basis, through the issue of Halfords shares, and linked to retention, amounting to approximately £165,000 per annum over the course of the next 3 years. Jill's employment notice period is six months on either side.

The above remuneration arrangements are compliant with the Group's remuneration policy that was approved by shareholders in 2014. Full details of Jill's remuneration arrangements will be disclosed in the Annual Report and Accounts for the 53 weeks ending 3 April 2015.

Notes to Editors

www.halfords.com

www.halfordscompany.com

www.halfordsautocentres.com

Halfords Group plc

Halfords is the UK's leading retailer of automotive, cycling and leisure products and, through Halfords Autocentres, also one of the UK's leading independent car servicing and repair operators. Halfords customers shop at 468 stores in the UK and Republic of Ireland, including four Halfords 'Cycle Republic' shops, and at halfords.com for pick-up at their local store or direct home delivery. Halfords Autocentres operates from over 300 sites nationally and offers motorists dealership-quality MOTs, repairs and car servicing at affordable prices.

The Halfords group strategy is based on three pillars:

·      Supporting Drivers Of Every Car

·      Inspiring Cyclists Of Every Age

·      Equipping Families For Their Leisure Time

The Getting Into Gear plan for the Retail business is based on executing in five key areas in order to deliver a significantly-enhanced customer experience:

·      Service Revolution

·      The H Factor

·      Stores Fit to Shop

·      21^st Century Infrastructure

·      Click with the Digital Future

Halfords employs approximately 11,000 colleagues and sells around 9,000 product lines in its Retail stores, increasing to around 160,000 Retail products online. The Retail offering encompasses significant ranges in car parts, cycling products, in-car technology, child seats, roof boxes and camping equipment. Halfords' own cycling brands include Apollo, Carrera, Boardman and 13 cycles, augmented by a range of other brands of cycles and accessories, including Kona, Mongoose, Raleigh and Pinarello. In Auto, the Halfords Essentials and Halfords Advanced ranges are sold alongside brands such as Kärcher, General Electric, Bosch, Garmin and TomTom. In Travel Solutions, Halfords sells a premium range of equipment including camping brands such as CampinGaz and Outwell. Halfords offers customers expert advice and a fitting service called 'wefit' for car parts, child seats, satellite navigation and in-car entertainment systems, and a 'werepair' service for cycles.

 

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