British American Tobacco plc (LON:BATS) has named Jack Bowles, chief operating officer of the cigarette maker's international business to succeed Nicandro Durante as its chief executive officer.
The FTSE 100-listed firm, which only announced last Thursday that Durante intends to retire on 1 April 2019 after eight years as its boss, said Bowles will become CEO Designate on November 1 and will join the board on 1 January 2019.
READ: BAT confirms CEO Nicandro Durante intends to retire on 1 April 2019
BAT said last week that its board had identified a lead candidate to succeed Durante, who has been with the company nearly 37 years.
Bowles, who has been in his current role since 2017, joined BAT in 2004 as CEO of BAT France and thereafter became Managing Director of the BAT listed subsidiary in Malaysia, Regional Director for Western Europe and subsequently served as Regional Director in both the Americas Region and the Asia-Pacific Region.
Richard Burrows, BAT’s chairman commented: "Jack's track record of innovating, and his experience across so many different geographies and areas of our business, position him extremely well to build on Nicandro's achievements and write the next chapter in BAT's history."
Bowles said: "With our depth of talent, our iconic brands and our range and pipeline of potentially reduced risk products, I am confident that we will take full advantage of these opportunities as we accelerate the transformation of BAT into a stronger multi-category tobacco and nicotine products company."