After issuing yet another profit warning for the fourth quarter of 2019, the board of directors of XXL ASA announced earlier this week that it has appointed Pål Wibe as the new chief executive of the company, which is the largest sporting goods retailer in the Nordic countries.
Wibe is a Norwegian manager with a strong background in discount retail. He has been the CEO of a low-priced chain of variety stores, Europris, since March 2014. He previously served for nearly seven years as CEO of a Norwegian discount retail chain for consumables of any kind, Nille. He holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.
Tolle Grøterud, who has served as interim CEO since December 2018, will remain in the company’s management team, taking on the responsibilities that he previously had for strategy and investor relations, and also handling sustainability.
Grøterud was appointed interim CEO at the end of 2018 as XXL announced disappointing fourth-quarter results along with the departure of a brand-new CEO, Ulf Bjerknes, after just two months in the role. This former CEO of Rottefella and the Swix Sport Group, took over as CEO in October 2018 after nine months with XXL, when Fredrik Steenbuch left the company after a difficult year.
When Grøterud took the role of interim CEO, the company’s founder, Øivind Tidemandsen, took a more operational and strategic role in daily operations. Late last year, Huga Maurstad replaced Tidemandsen as XXL’s chairman after the Altor private equity fund became its largest shareholder through a private placement intended to refinance the company (SGI Europe Vol. 30 N° 37+38 of Nov. 8, 2019). In announcing the appointment of the latest new CEO, XXL said that Tidemandsen will now resume his position as a regular board member and serve as an adviser to the management team when and where needed.
