Co-op boss Shirine Khoury-Haq quits Persimmon board role to focus on day job
The chief executive of The Co-op has quit her role at house builder Persimmon.
Shirine Khoury-Haq will step down from her role as an independent non-executive director of the company on September 30.
In a statement issued to the London Stock Exchange, Shirine Khoury-Haq said the board had started the process to find her successor.
Khoury-Haq said: “I have greatly enjoyed my time on the board of Persimmon. Since I joined the Persimmon board I have been appointed chief executive of The Co-operative Group.
“The time commitments in this role have led me to make the decision to step down from Persimmon’s board.
“I am confident in the future success of the business and wish the company well.”
Persimmon: “We are disappointed but fully understand”
Persimmon chairman Roger Devlin added: “On behalf of the board, I would like to thank Shirine for her valuable contribution.
“While we are disappointed that Shirine is stepping down from the Board, we fully understand her decision and wish her every success for the future.
“We have initiated a search for a new non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee and will provide an update on this process in due course.”
Co-op’s sales and profits fell in 2023
Earlier this month The Co-op announced it made £11.3bn in revenue in 2023, down just £0.2bn from the previous year.
Profit before tax was £28m, down from £268m reported for 2022. However, the group attributed this variance to the sale of its petrol forecourt business to Asda.
At its grocery chain, food underlying operating profit increased 11 per cent year-on-year to £154m, driven by cost efficiencies, including improvements in availability, waste reduction, optimised stock-holding, and overall reduction in cost-to-serve.
In January, The Co-op revealed plans to grow its membership to eight million by the end of the decade as it eyes a “golden era of co-operation”.
The Manchester-headquartered group, which has food, funerals, legal and insurance divisions, wants to increase its number of members from five million, itself a 15 per cent increase on last year.