Home Retail boss is awarded Daily Mail dud of the year

The battle to avoid being named ‘Zero of the Year’ was fierce in 2011 with three bosses slugging it out after dominating the regular villains’ slot.

The wooden spoon finally went to Terry Duddy, chief executive of Home Retail Group, the embattled owner of Argos and Homebase.

Duddy was the Zero four times during 2011, putting him on a level with Lloyd Blankfein from Goldman Sachs and BP’s Bob Dudley.

But it was the collapse of Home Retail’s share price, down 56 per cent over the last 12 months, that tipped the balance for Duddy.
When he reported results in August, the group’s half-year pre-tax profits had fallen by 70 per cent to £28million on lower sales.

He is under pressure to increase sales, having resisted calls to cull the number of Argos stores and making a controversial decision to try and flog electronic goods in China, which critics see as taking coals to Newcastle.

Duddy’s securing of top spot among the Zeroes puts an end to a period of domination by Blankfein. The toxic combination of fraud charges and sky-high bonuses kept Blankfein in pole position for two years, but even a 30 per cent pay rise and the bank’s second loss since going public were not enough to retain him the crown this year.

Source: Peter Campbell - This is money.co.uk
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2081405/Daily-Mail-City-desk-Home-Retail-Group-boss-Terry-Duddy-dud-year.html