The Grocer – 13 January 2018

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Helen Gilbert

Marks & Spencer has

appointed Humphrey

Singer as its new chief

financial officer.

Singer joins from

Dixons Carphone, where

he was finance director.

As yet no start date

has yet been confirmed,

but he will replace Helen

Weir, who is leaving on 31

March to pursue a portfo-

lio career.

Singer, who is also

a non-executive direc-

tor at Taylor Wimpey,

joined Dixons in 2007

before becoming finance

director in 2011, a posi-

tion he continued to hold

following the merger

of the retail group with

Carphone Warehouse in

2014.

He previously held

Humphrey Singer

to join M&S in chief

financial officer role

finance roles at Cadbury

Schweppes and Coca-

Cola Enterprises UK.

“As we embark on our

five-year transformation

programme, Humphrey

will be a great addition to

the top team,” said M&S

chief executive Steve

Rowe. “His experience as

part of the team that led

Dixons through its period

of change and migration

to multichannel retailer

is most relevant to what

we are undertaking here.

This, coupled with his

retail expertise and eye

for detail and cost, will

be very important to our

team dynamic.”

The appointment

comes in the week M&S

recorded a 1.4% fall in

like-for-like sales for the

13 weeks to 30 December.

Food like-for-likes were

down 0.4%, while cloth-

ing and home was down

2.8%. In terms of the food

performance, Rowe said

“ongoing trading pres-

sures continued in the

lead-up to Christmas as

consumer spending and

choices reflected tighter

b u dg e t s ”.

M&S also announced

it will spend £25m on a

new technology drive.

Singer has been Dixons

Carphone FD since 2011

L

ast month, I highlighted the fact that

many sixth form students have little idea

what they want to do career-wise. The

15 January deadline for this year’s university

applications is fast approaching, but university

is certainly not an option or a choice for all 16 to

18-year-olds. As a diverse industry, we can offer

amazing opportunities for entry level roles at 18.

By bringing young people into our industry

early, we open their eyes to the array of roles we

can offer and importantly, the way businesses

• large and small – operate. It also enables
  companies to provide training right across the
  business and to see where someone best ‘fits’.
  At entry level, development might be informal
  through shadowing, on the job or internal
  training, or through more formalised training
  via the apprenticeship route. It’s worth bearing
  in mind that sixth form graduates are just as
  likely to show loyalty to their first employer as a
  university graduate. Your investment in training
  and support early on is definitely money well
  spent for the longer term.
  Apprenticeships are increasingly being seen
  as a viable option post school or college for those
  that cannot or do not want to go to university, or
  would prefer to be in employment at the same
  time as training. For larger employers, 2017’s
  apprenticeship levy was potentially good news


• with those employers committed to training
  sufficient numbers of apprentices set to get back
  more than they pay in levies. It’s still early days,
  but its introduction has undoubtedly created
  momentum behind an important initiative.
  As an industry, we need to market
  apprenticeships and entry-level roles directly
  to sixth form students and colleges. At Working
  Options, we’ve recently partnered with ABP
  UK to help it increase awareness of its job and
  apprenticeship opportunities with sixth form
  college students, tutors and careers advisers.
  As employers, we need to continue to be
  creative about how we get ourselves in front
  of sixth form students. Research from charity
  Education & Employers has confirmed that
  employer engagement activities have a positive
  impact on grades, so this surely can’t be a bad
  place to start. Who knows? Some of the students
  you interact with may become your next entry-
  level recruits.

Paul Monk is Founder of Working Options in

Education: workingoptions.co.uk

young talent

Paul Monk

How can we bring

more young people

into entry-level roles?

Rose previously worked at

Booker and AO World

Hancocks owner

Innovative Bites has

appointed former Booker

Group chairman Richard

Rose as a non-executive

chairman.

This comes as part of

a wider strategic expan-

sion at the IB Group, with

Rose expected to work

with the management

team to help customers

grow their businesses.

“Richard’s appoint-

ment is a key move in

our ongoing business

strategy to grow the IB

Group and position it as

the market leader,” said

IB Group CEO Wayne

Richard Rose joins Hancocks in

role of non-executive chairman

Beedle. “Richard has an

exceptional track record

of developing and sup-

porting management

teams to build and exe-

cute a customer-focused

strategy for growth.”

During Rose’s tenure

as chairman, Booker’s

shares increased 20-fold.

Rose has previously

worked as chairman of

online electrical goods

retailer AO World, where

he oversaw its expansion

from a small, privately

owned business, to one

of the largest online

retailers in the UK.

Hancocks, Bobby’s

and Bonds of London are

all part of the IB Group,

which currently has more

than 55,000 direct cus-

tomers excluding major

grocers and discount-

ers, and offers more than

5,000 confectionery

products.