New Halfords boss swaps burgers for bikes and car parts

Reuters

Published Mar 23, 2015 04:02AM ET

Updated Mar 23, 2015 04:21AM ET

New Halfords boss swaps burgers for bikes and car parts

LONDON (Reuters) - British bikes-to-car parts retailer Halfords (L:HFD) said on Monday it had appointed an executive of burger firm McDonald's (N:MCD) to be its new boss.

Halfords named Jill McDonald as its new chief executive with effect from May 11, succeeding Matt Davies, whose departure to take charge of Tesco 's (L:TSCO) UK business was announced in January.

Davies has been credited with reviving the company's fortunes since joining in October 2012, boosting sales by improving stores and customer service. Shares tumbled on Jan. 8 when he announced his departure.

McDonald is currently CEO, UK & President, North West Division, Europe for McDonald's.

She joined McDonald's in 2006 as chief marketing officer UK & northern Europe and was appointed to her current role in 2010.

"We are delighted to have recruited Jill, who has a strong track record of heading a large, complex, service-led business with great success," said Halfords chairman Dennis Millard.

Her responsibilities at McDonald's encompass around 3,300 owned and franchised restaurants across seven countries, more than 500 franchisees and over 200,000 staff.

McDonald has also worked at Colgate Palmolive and British Airways in brand management and marketing roles.

"Halfords has already made significant progress in delivering its service-led growth strategy and I look forward to joining such a strong team to continue to build on that success," she said.

McDonald's remuneration package includes an annual basic salary of 500,000 pounds and various bonus entitlements.

Shares in the firm, down 6.3 percent over the last six months, closed Friday at 453.5 pence, valuing the business at 891 million pounds ($1.3 billion).