Kingfisher Appoints Two New Directors

Kingfisher, the international home improvement company, today announces the appointment of Bernard Bot as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Bernard will take up the role on 21 October 2019 and will be appointed to the Board of Directors on that date. He will also become a member of the Group Executive team.

Bernard joins most recently from Travelport Worldwide, a global technology platform for the travel industry that was NYSE-listed until June 2019. As Travelport’s CFO, Bernard was responsible for finance, strategy, transformation and investor relations. He was integral to the repositioning of the company from a traditional travel content distributor to a digital-led commerce platform. Prior to that, Bernard was CFO of Aer Lingus where he was responsible for all aspects of finance, IT and procurement. Between 2005 and 2014, Bernard held various positions at express delivery company TNT Express NV, including Group CFO and Interim Group CEO. Between 1992 and 2005, he worked at McKinsey & Company where he rose to become a Partner and leader of McKinsey’s worldwide Post and Logistics group. Bernard is a non-executive director of A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S and a member of its Audit Committee.

Bernard has significant experience in large-scale transformation programmes, logistics and supply chain management, technology and digital services. He is a seasoned CFO, having held this role at companies listed in the US, UK, Ireland and the Netherlands and has worked at international businesses throughout his career. Bernard is a Dutch national, who also speaks fluent English and French, and will be based at the company’s headquarters in Paddington, UK.

The Company also announces that John Wartig, who joined Kingfisher as interim CFO on 8 April 2019, has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Transformation and Development Officer. He will remain on the Group Executive team, with direct responsibility for transformation, IT, business development and property, and will report to Thierry Garnier, Kingfisher’s CEO.

As well as his interim CFO responsibilities, John has also steered Kingfisher’s Transformation Office since joining the Company. He has instilled a heightened focus on the implementation of Kingfisher’s change programme at Kingfisher France, and in measuring the performance and delivery of key transformation milestones around IT and supply chain. John also has significant experience of complex transformations across different geographies, as well as an established track record of actively managing large property portfolios.

John will commence the role of Chief Transformation and Development Officer on 21 October 2019.

Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher, said:
“Bernard is a highly experienced CFO whose credentials and track record are ideally suited to Kingfisher. He played a central role in the successful transformations at both TNT and Travelport, where he also gained a deep knowledge of technology and digital services, and he has a career-long understanding of logistics and supply chain optimisation. His career at international businesses has also given him strong capital markets expertise as the group CFO of companies listed in the US, UK, Ireland and the Netherlands. We look forward to him getting started later this month.

“I am also delighted that John will be staying at Kingfisher as our Chief Transformation and Development Officer. In the short time he has been here, he has made a notable impact both in finance and in our ongoing transformation, our IT capabilities and our property portfolio. The knowledge he has built up already, as well as his expertise in these strategically key areas, will be extremely valuable for the business going forward.”

Bernard Bot commented:
“I’m very happy to be joining Kingfisher. The business has strong financial characteristics and significant growth opportunities. I look forward to working with the Kingfisher team to capture these for the benefit of all stakeholders.”

John Wartig added:
“I’m delighted to have been given this key role to make significant improvements to our change management programme, particularly around IT and supply chain. These are areas that I’ve been closely involved in over the last six months and we’ll now build on these under Thierry’s leadership.”

Statutory and other disclosures

The Company confirms there is no further information to be disclosed under the requirements of Listing Rule 9.6.13R in relation to Bernard Bot’s appointment.

Bernard’s service contract, remuneration and benefits will be consistent with the Kingfisher Remuneration Policy approved by shareholders at the AGM in July 2019.

Bernard will receive a salary of £565,000. He will receive a pension allowance of 12.5% of salary in line with arrangements available to other UK colleagues and other benefits in line with the Remuneration Policy. 

He will be eligible to participate in the Company’s Annual Bonus with a maximum opportunity of 80% of salary, pro-rata to reflect his start date. The Annual Bonus focuses executives on strategic execution and the delivery of KPIs that contribute to sustainable returns.

He will receive a pro-rata Alignment Share award for 2019 which will be 100% subject to performance criteria related to the balance sheet and financial strength of the business measured over three years and followed by a two year holding period.

He will also be eligible to receive a pro-rata Delivering Value Incentive award in 2019, which has a five-year performance period and incentivises the delivery of EPS, ROCE and Relative TSR. The pro-rata target opportunity will be 163% of salary (54% of salary p.a. and at maximum it is 217% of salary p.a.). This is lower than the limit set out in the Remuneration Policy.

The share ownership requirement will be 250% of salary and this will also apply for two years after departure. 

There are no other payments or awards linked to his recruitment.

Bernard Bot’s biographical details

2016 – 2019                  CFO and Executive Vice President, Travelport Worldwide Ltd

2014 – 2015                  CFO Aer Lingus plc

2011 – 2014                  CFO TNT Express NV, including a 9-month period as Interim CEO

2005 – 2011                  Group Director Business Control and then CFO TNT NV

1992 – 2005                 Partner at McKinsey & Company, responsible for client services in the transportation sector and lead for worldwide Post and Logistics group

Bernard has a Master’s degree in Business Economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He speaks English, French, Dutch and German.

He is also a non-executive director of A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S and a member of its Audit Committee.

Source : Insight DIY Team and Kingfisher

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