Sir David Jones, the highly respected deputy chairman of JJB Sports, is moving up to become executive chairman, replacing Roger Lane-Smith, who moves over to be non-executive deputy chairman. Chris Ronnie will remain chief executive of the group. Jones has been CEO and chairman of Next and had chairman positions with Wm. Morrison Supermarkets and Shop Direct.
Furthermore, Peter Williams joined the company this month as an executive director overseeing strategic development. He is a non-executive director of Asos and Cineworld Group, and has been the CEO of Selfridges and Alpha Group, formerly Alpha Airports Group.
The changes helped the company on the stock market, with the value of its shares more than doubling to 8.6 pence on Monday afternoon, compared with 4.09 pence on Friday morning.
JJB is not the only British retail company to have been financially troubled in recent months. USC, which was formerly owned by Sir Thomas Hunter, founder of JJB’s predecessor, Sports Division, has been reported as going into receivership. The BBC reported that USC has named the accountancy firm PKF to be its administrator. It also said that Hunter plans to buy back 43 of the 58 USC stores.
