Ben Fletcher would be well advised to make the most of his Christmas break. When Shop Direct’s new group chief financial officer joins in January he faces being thrust into a business still suffering the effects of a PPI-induced financial shock that has escalated to the point where it pushed 2018/19 profits significantly into the red.

This week it was reported that Shop Direct’s owners the Barclay family are on the verge of striking a £150m refinancing deal to shore up the online retailer’s balance sheet, following a warning in its recent accounts that there was “material uncertainty” surrounding its ability to operate as a going concern.

It’s hardly the news you want to hear as you settle into the CFO’s chair, but a more positive spin is that Fletcher is joining Shop Direct at a time when the worst of the damage has been done. The deadline for making PPI claims has closed and the underlying business remains in decent shape. Group revenue edged up to just short of £2bn in the latest financial year with underlying profitability also showing a marginal increase.

Fletcher may even relish the opportunity of working for a retailer that has been positioned to operate in a digital age, rather than bricks-and-mortar businesses, like former employers Clarks and Boots, whose digital transformations remain works in progress.

Fletcher, who will report directly to chief executive Henry Birch, has already achieved a great deal in a career that still has many years to run. He joined FMCG giant Procter & Gamble after graduating from Durham University in 1999 and spent over a decade in finance roles, latterly as global finance manager of its P&G Salon Professional arm.

“Fletcher’s breadth of experience will serve him well at Shop Direct, which, despite its current travails, is pressing ahead with its growth agenda”

He left to join Boots in 2011 as commercial finance director before becoming finance director in 2012 and then managing director of Boots Opticians a year later.

Fletcher’s experience running Boots Opticians coupled with his most recent role as president of Clarks’ European business has seen him break out of pure finance roles and take on wider management responsibilities, including a significant focus on digital expansion at the shoe retailer.

This breadth of experience will serve him well at Shop Direct, which, despite its current travails, is pressing ahead with its own growth agenda. This includes the restructuring of its technology teams to make the business more agile and responsive, the onboarding of a new automated distribution centre in 2020, and continued investment in the personalisation that has become its hallmark.

With the worst of its PPI woes seemingly behind it, Shop Direct will be hoping the arrival of its new CFO marks the start of a less turbulent, more profitable period.

Content provided by Anthony Gregg Partnership.

anthony gregg partnership

You can call Tony Gregg on 0207 316 3146 or email him at tony@anthonygregg.com.

Founded in 2003 and located in central London, The Anthony Gregg Partnership specialises in the consumer search market space.