Follow us

Menu
PARTNER WITH USFREE NEWSLETTER
VISIT TheIndustry.beauty

JD Sports boss Peter Cowgill steps down after 18 years in charge

Lauretta Roberts
25 May 2022

Peter Cowgill, the long-term chief of JD Sports, has resigned from his position as executive chairman after 18 years in the role.

The sports and fashion PLC said that Cowgill was stepping down after a review of its internal governance and controls. The company had previously pledged to separate the roles of chairman and CEO held by Cowgill but announced it had decided to "accelerate the separation of the roles".

The company had already begun a search for a new CEO and board member Kath Smith, who has previously held senior roles with Adidas and Reebok, will take over in the meantime.

JD will now also kick off a hunt for a chair, with fellow board member Helen Ashton taking the role in the meantime. She has previously worked for ASOS, Lloyds Bank and Barclays.

Ashton said: “The business has developed strongly under Peter’s leadership into a world-leading multi-channel retailer with a proven strategy and clear momentum.

“However, as our business has become bigger and more complex, what is clear is that our internal infrastructure, governance and controls have not developed at the same pace.

“As we capitalise on the great opportunities ahead of us, the board is committed to ensuring that we have the highest standards of corporate governance and controls appropriate to a FTSE 100 company to support future growth.”

Cowgill's departure comes after the business was obliged to sell off smaller rival Footasylum, acquired in 2019 for £90 million, following a ruling by the Competitions and Markets Authority that the deal was anti-competitive. JD has refuted the competition watchdog's ruling but it was upheld nonetheless and the business is now in the process of unpicking the deal and will be obliged to sell off the chain.

In February of this year, JD Sports was fined £4.3 million by the competition watchdog for exchanging commercially sensitive information with Footasylum, with Cowgill having met his opposite number at Footasylum, Barry Bown, in a Bury car park in July 2021, according to video seen by the Sunday Times.

At the time of the pair's meeting, the CMA was deciding whether to let the deal go ahead amid fears that it could harm competition. During the investigation, JD had been banned from integrating Footasylum into its business or preventing any competition between the companies.

The CMA said that there was a “black hole” surrounding two meetings between the men, adding that neither could remember “crucial details” and there were no notes, agendas or emails that could be handed to the authority.

The CMA said that this order had been breached, listing a number of reasons including the meeting. It also fined Footasylum.

Free NewsletterVISIT TheIndustry.beauty
cross