Véronique Laury, chief executive of struggling DIY retail chain Kingfisher, is to leave in a move that depletes the already limited ranks of female bosses of FTSE 100 companies.
The company behind the B&Q and Screwfix brands in the UK announced Laury’s departure as it revealed a fall in annual profits and plans to close stores.
Kingfisher said it would immediately start seeking a replacement for Laury, whose leaving date has yet to be decided.
Laury, 53, is one of only six female chief executives in the FTSE 100 and has been in the top job at Kingfisher for more than four years, during which time its shares have lost almost a quarter of their value.
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More than 20 years after Marjorie Scardino became the first female chief executive of a FTSE 100 company when she was appointed to the role by Pearson, there are still only six women in the top job at Britain’s biggest listed companies.
The number has never made it into double figures – and the arrival of Penny James in the top job at the insurer Direct Line in May will be offset by the departure of Kingfisher's Véronique Laury.
The ranks of female FTSE 100 bosses had already been depleted by the departure of Moya Greene, who left Royal Mail last year and was replaced by a man, Rico Back. The postal group was subsequently demoted to the FTSE 250.
As well as Laury, the last women standing at the helm of FTSE 100 companies are ITV’s Dame Carolyn McCall, GlaxoSmithKline’s Emma Walmsley, Whitbread’s Alison Brittain, Severn Trent’s Liv Garfield, and Imperial Tobacco’s Alison Cooper.
News of her departure comes amid mounting pressure on companies to do more to address the vast under-representation of women in UK boardrooms.
Last week the Investment Association wrote to more than 60 publicly listed companies, including Domino’s Pizza and JD Sports, raising concerns over a lack of gender diversity.
The investor group has joined forces with the government-commissioned Hampton-Alexander review of UK boardroom diversity in calling out FTSE 350 firms with “one and done” boardrooms which have a single female board member.
“The departure of Véronique Laury shows we cannot take our foot off the pedal when it comes to continuing to champion the cause of women on boards,” said Doyin Atewologun, director of the gender, leadership and inclusion centre at Cranfield University.
“To really make progress, we need sustained joint effort from everyone involved in the process of finding and developing talent for the boardroom,” she added. “I sincerely hope that those driving the process of replacing Véronique consider the vast pool of female talent we know from our research is ready and willing to take on the job.”
Laury’s exit was announced as Kingfisher reported a 13% fall in pre-tax profits to £693m in the year to 31 January 2019, with poor trading at its French chain Castorama more than offsetting a stronger performance in the UK. When one-off costs related to property, restructuring and store revamps were included, pre-tax profit slumped 53% to £322m.
Kingfisher is also considering closing 15 loss-making stores over the next two years, including three B&Q shops. It has 296 B&Q stores and 627 Screwfix stores in the UK and Ireland, employing more than 24,000 people.
Kingfisher is closing its 19 Screwfix stores in Germany, with the loss of 250 jobs, but will continue to operate its online business in the country.
Laury launched the One Kingfisher turnaround programme in 2016, with the aim of boosting annual profits by £500m by the end of 2020-21. However, the group effectively abandoned the profit target on Wednesday, saying it “no longer reflects how we manage the business”.
Neil Wilson, an analyst at Markets.com, said: “Véronique Laury has been shown the door at Kingfisher after failing to deliver on the One strategy. Quarter after quarter of disappointing results finally did for her. The disruptions from the yellow vest movement in France in the fourth quarter didn’t help matters but the writing has been on the wall for some time.”
Kingfisher said Laury, who had been leading a turnaround plan at the group, “fully supports the decision” to find a new chief executive.
Andy Cosslett, the chairman, said the board was sticking with Laury’s strategy but was seeking a new chief executive because she had not felt able to commit to the next five years.
Laury said she was leaving after the bulk of the “heavy lifting” of her five-year transformation plan had been completed.
She added: “I wouldn’t be running out if I didn’t think this business was in good shape. I have been living for five years on my own in London, that was my choice and I knew that I had to do this when I took that job. This has been my whole life for the last five years but there is a point where you say I can’t do another five years.”
Sales were roughly flat over the year, at £11.7bn, while the full-year dividend to be paid out to shareholders was unchanged at 10.8p per share. Shares closed down more than 6% at 230p.
“The decision to find a new chief executive at Kingfisher should have been made long ago,” said Russ Mould, AJ Bell’s investment director.
“Theoretically, this business should be doing well. People are spending money on doing up their homes and Kingfisher has some of the biggest brands in the home improvement market.”