Supergroup PLC Slides On Appointment Of New CEO

Supergroup PLC (LON:SGP) founder Julian Dunkerton moves to a product development and branding role.

The Motley Fool Staff

Published 22 October, 2014 1:17 pm BST

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SuperGroup (LSE: SGP) has announced that Euan Sutherland — currently a non-executive director — is to become group chief executive with immediate effect.

Julian Dunkerton, the incumbent CEO, is to move to the new role of Founder and Product & Brand Director. SuperGroup is currently 2.9% lower, having recovered from a slide of over 4% in early trading.

Mr Sutherland has held senior positions in a number of leading retailers, including Matalan, Currys and Kingfisher. Most recently he was CEO of the Co‑operative Group, but he resigned from that post after less than year, saying that the Co-operative Group’s lack of professional and commercial governance made it impossible to drive through the changes he felt were necessary.

Commenting on Mr Sutherland’s appointment, SuperGroup Chairman Peter Bamford said

“Euan’s appointment marks another important step in the continued evolution of SuperGroup. Euan has the stature, skills, experience and personal style to work in partnership with Julian and lead the team through the next stage of the Company’s development.”

SuperGroup says that Mr Sutherland’s becoming CEO will allow Julian Dunkerton to focus on developing the company’s product ranges, and on enhancing and protecting the brand as it expands worldwide. Mr Dunkerton himself remarked that

“With the number of opportunities SuperGroup has available and the increasing complexity of the business, now is the right time to bring in a CEO of Euan’s calibre. Having worked with him on the Board for two years, I am certain our skills will be complementary and look forward to delivering the continued growth of the Superdry brand together.“

At 999.5p at the time of writing, SuperGroup’s share price is down just over 13% on this time last year, compared with a 5% dip in the FTSE 100 index. However, over the longer term SuperGroup is beating the index comfortably, with a 78% rise in share price over the past five years, during which time the FTSE 100 has risen less than 12%.