John Lewis Partnership has said chief executive Nish Kankiwala will step back into the role of a non-executive after chairman Jason Tarry joined the company last month.
Kankiwala had taken the helm in 2023 to assist former chair Sharon White and will step down next March following two years in the role.
“I was delighted to agree to take on the role for a two-year period during this time of pivotal change,” he said on Monday.
“Since then we’ve refreshed our partnership strategy to be rooted in retail; significantly improved our cash flows to enable record investment for growth; and returned [...] to full-year profit.”
John Lewis Partnership, which incorporates the department store and supermarket Waitrose, cut pre-tax losses from £59 million to £30 million over the first half of the year.
Profits were on course to come in “significantly higher” over the full year, it added at the time of the results.
Kankiwala added he had been brought in as chief executive to “accelerate [...] the transformation” of the partnership, following a tough period post-pandemic.