Helen Weir has today been appointed as the new Group Finance Director at employee-owned retail firm the John Lewis Partnership, replacing Marisa Cassoni.
Currently a non-executive director at global brewing & bottling company SAB Millier, Weir has extensive retail experience having served five years as Finance Director of B&Q and then a further four years as Group Finance Director at its owner Kingfisher until 2004.
Cassoni, who has held the position at John Lewis since 2006, will be retiring in May after more than 20 years performing senior finance roles at some of the UK‘s biggest organisations.
Weir will start work with the retailer on April 1st 2012 and will receive a full handover and induction from Cassoni before assuming the Finance Director role from June 1st.
Charlie Mayfield, Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, commented on the appointment: “I‘m delighted to welcome Helen to the partnership as Group Finance Director.
“Helen brings a wealth of both finance and retail experience and expertise and will be a great successor to Marisa, who has made an enormous contribution to the partnership over the last six years.”
John Lewis partnership experienced a decent trading performance last week, according to figures produced today, with total group sales up five per cent compared to the same period last year.
The vast majority of John Lewis department stores saw sales drop year-on-year during the seven days to February 11th, but a strong 43.9 per cent growth in online trading during the week helped overall sales for the retailer rise 4.1 per cent.
At Waitrose, the partnership‘s grocery arm, sales rose 5.5 per cent in the week, with trading shaped by the burst of icy weather as consumer increasingly stocked up on soups, frozen chips and ready meals.
