JD assembles Ikea chair after rocky period for retailer
The former boss of Ikea has been named as JD Sport’s new chair following a tumultuous period for the retailer.
Peter Agnefjäll, who spent more than two decades at the Swedish home furnishing brand, is set to succeed Darren Shapland as the chair of JD from the beginning of September.
Shapland was appointed to the role on an interim basis following the abrupt departure of Andy Higginson in April.
Higginson quit as chair of the FTSE 100 sportswear retailer ahead of his tenure expiring in July, in line with the firm’s annual general meeting.
He said at the time he was “proud of his time” at the company, in which JD oversaw a “tough period” in the sportswear market and expanded the brand in the US.
But it later emerged Higginson’s departure followed an attempted coup after he failed to convince his board partners that chief executive Régis Shultz should be ousted because of the firm’s slowing sales and stalled progress in North America.
A number of executives at JD Sports were said to have agreed with Higginson, according to the Financial Times who first reported the news, but the chair did not garner enough backing to avoid being forced out himself. The retailer’s majority shareholder Pentland Group threw its weight behind Shultz in a blow to Higginson.
JD hit with ‘muted’ growth
JD Sports said at the time it was “mutually agreed” between the former chair and the board that this “is the right time for a change of chair”.
“There has been no disagreement about the board’s continued support for the chief executive,” it added.
Agnefjäll started at Ikea as a business area manager in 2002 before rising up to deputy chief executive over a ten-year period. He took the top job in September 2013 and carried out the role for four years.
He was also made a non-executive director of WPP in May 2026.
The Swedish businessman joins the blue-chip retailer after it warned of “muted” growth amid dampened consumer spending and cost pressures from the Iran war.
Pre-tax profit at the FTSE 100 firm fell by 12 per cent to £629m in the year to January, even as sales rose by 12 per cent to £12.7bn.
The retailer issued wider profit guidance than it was “previously planning” to account for the “uncertainty” posed by the Iran war, forecasting a pre-tax profit of between £750m and £850m for the next year.