Marks & Spencer finance chief resigns to move to AB Foods

Marks & Spencer announced on Thursday, July 21, that Eoin Tonge, its chief financial officer, is leaving the company. It was revealed that the executive is set to move to Associated British Foods to take up a new role.

AB Foods is the owner of Primark, an Irish retail company that offers budget fashion items to customers. According to Reuters, Tonge will be joining AB Foods before February 2023 to be its next finance director.

He will be replacing John Bason, who will be retiring in the last part of April 2023. It was reported that the outgoing director had been serving AB Foods for 23 years already prior to his retirement.

While Tonge has already informed Marks & Spencer about his resignation, he will still remain with the company until the first half results in November. He started working at the company more than two years ago, and at that time, M&S believed he could help the company get through the pandemic. Before joining the London, England-headquartered retailer, Tonge worked as the financial director of the Irish firm, Greencore.

It was noted that Tonge would be moving to a far bigger firm compared to Marks & Spencer as AB Foods also has food manufacturing, agriculture, sugar, and ingredients businesses. The company’s market value is said to be £13.3 billion or $15.9 billion, which is a big contrast to M&S's £2.8 billion.

George Weston, the chief executive officer of AB Foods, said that they see Tonge as an ideal successor to the 65-year-old Bason. After his retirement, Bason is set to become chairman of the Primark Strategic Advisory Board.

Meanwhile, with the departure of Eoin Tonge, Marks & Spencer has now started the process of appointing a successor.

"Our financial controls, reporting, and financial discipline are in a far stronger place than when he arrived. Under his guidance, we have restored the balance sheet and created a strong platform for the next phase,” Nasdaq quoted M&S’s chairman, Archie Norman, as saying in a statement. “Eoin has been extremely helpful in supporting the Board and seeing through our planned succession to Stuart Machin as Chief Executive and Katie Bickerstaffe as Co-Chief Executive.