The Chief Executive of Debenhams Michael Sharp has announced that he will be standing down next year. Sharp has served as CEO at the retailer for the last five years during a difficult financial period for the company.
Sharp has not specified when he will leave exactly, but confirmed that it would be “sometime in 2016”. In a statement, Debenhams said Sharp would remain in place throughout the busy festive period and would help the company to find a replacement.
The past four consecutive years have seen Debenhams' profits decline amidst increasing competition and a struggling UK high street. Shares in the company have dropped by 30% since their peak in November 2012.
Despite sharing a profit rise of 3% in the year to August 2015 and a 30% increase in share prices, rumours that Sharp was due to leave have been circulating for a number of weeks. Sharp said that on accepting the role of CEO, he always intended to leave after five years.
Sharp commented: “I hope being transparent about my intentions will stop recent speculation becoming a distraction, allowing me and the Debenhams team to focus on delivering our strategy and the important Christmas trading period.”
Nigel Northridge, Chairman at Debenhams, added: “The Board are confident we have a clear and effective strategy and when Michael steps down, he will leave Debenhams in a strong position to compete and deliver long term sustainable growth.”
Sharp has been employed at Debenhams, in various roles, for more than 25 years. As CEO he oversaw a drop in the number of promotions offered at Debenhams and added new concessions into stores.
On sharing the company’s latest results this week, Sharp said: “We have had an encouraging start to the year, with strong new product launches which have been well received by our customers and we are in good shape to build on last year’s strong performance over peak trading.”
