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Superdry gets small bonus as Saga hires former boss

Published: 07:34 11 Dec 2019 GMT

Saga Group - F
Euan Sutherland

Saga PLC (LON:SAGA) has appointed former Superdry (LON:SDRY) boss Euan Sutherland as its new chief executive, ahead of Lance Batchelor’s retirement.

Sutherland will take up the role on 6 January, said the FTSE 250 group in a statement on Wednesday.

He quit as chief executive of fashion brand Superdry in August when co-founder Julian Dunkerton wrestled his way back onto the board, with his many complaints including that Sutherland had been paid not far off £10mln over his five years in charge while slashing 200 jobs in an effort to make £20mln cost savings.

Sutherland received a year's salary of almost £730,000 as a pay-off when he walked away from Superdry, but the contract stipulated the amount will decrease if he found another job within a year.

Previously, he has been chief executive at the Co-op Group and chief operating officer and UK chief executive at B&Q owner Kingfisher plc (LON:KGF), as well as having worked at Mars and Coca-Cola earlier in his career.

Meanwhile, Batchelor will retire after six years at the helm of the over-50s focused company, which deals in travel and insurance, continuing as a statutory director until he leaves the business on 31 January.

Batchelor led Saga’s flotation in 2014, but the last twelve months has been a tumultuous period for the group that saw it post a big loss, slash its dividend and issue a profit warning about its insurance business for this year.

Saga's shares have lost around three-quarters of their value accordingly in just over two years, leading the group to launch a new insurance strategy in April, as well as reportedly considering a potential sale of its domiciliary care business.

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