London: British retailer Marks & Spencer has allowed Alan Stewart, its departing chief finance officer, to join troubled rival Tesco in the same role two months early following an appeal from Tesco’s new chief executive Dave Lewis.
Tesco, Britain’s biggest grocer, said Stewart would join the firm on Tuesday, rather than the previously announced date of December 1.
Stewart quit M&S on July 10 to join Tesco but had since been on a period of so called “gardening leave”, with M&S intent on holding him to his contractual notice period.
Tesco wanted to get Stewart early after revealing on Monday an accounting issue that had led it to overstate its first half profit forecast by 250 million pounds ($409 million).
A spokesman for M&S said the firm released Stewart after a personal appeal from Lewis to M&S chief executive Marc Bolland.
“It was a request from Dave to Marc... We felt it was the right thing to do,” he said, adding that Tesco did not pay any compensation for Stewart’s early release.
