Leighton refocuses on Consignia
Allan Leighton, the former Asda chief executive, will “reluctantly” pull out of several non-executive directorships over the next few months to concentrate on restoring Consignia to profitability.
But the self-styled “pluralist”, has told ministers he will not transmute his part-time chairmanship of the former Post Office into a full-time role as chief executive, despite repeated efforts to persuade him otherwise.
John Roberts, who has been Consignia’s chief executive for the past seven years, is expected to announce his own plans to step down from the unforgiving role of PO head when the corporation divulges its annual results over the next few days. Mr Roberts, 57, is under pressure to step down well before his 60th birthday in 2004.
Consignia, which has admitted that it is losing pounds 1.5m a day, is likely to declare annual losses of up to pounds 1bn as it embarks on a radical cost-cutting programme or “renewal plan”, involving the shedding of at least 30,000 jobs and the closure of 3,000 sub post-offices.
Mr Leighton, brought in by ministers to breathe commercial business acumen into a corporation widely derided as being imbued with a civil ser vice mentality, told journal Retail Week that he would reluctantly “disengage” from some of the dozen non-executive roles he already holds.
Mr Leighton, who will remain as chairman of Bhs, the store chain, already works two days a week as Consignia chairman but is understood to feel it is akin to a full-time job as the corporation falls foul of both Whitehall and the new postal services regulator, Postcomm.
Determined to rid the Post Office of its new name, he is keen to restore relations with both the government and the regulator and to concentrate on revitalising the business as it faces increased competition from both domestic and overseas players.
But Mr Leighton, who is expected to oversee a radical shake-up of Consignia’s senior management, was said by industry insiders yesterday to have insisted that, however hands-on he may be, he cannot devote enough time to implementing the “renewal plan” on a daily basis.
“This project is bigger than anything this, or indeed any other organisation, has ever attempted,” they said. “It needs a full-time attention to all the details.”
The introduction of competition could cost the Post Office pounds 750m a year in lost earnings.
Copyright 2002 The Guardian.
