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CFO's Exit Shows Halfords a Fertile Ground for Executive Hires

CFO's Exit Shows Halfords a Fertile Ground for Executive Hires

(Bloomberg) -- Yet another Halfords Group Plc executive is moving on to bigger and better things.

Jonny Mason, who has been chief financial officer since 2015, is leaving to become group finance director at Dixons Carphone Plc, the U.K. bikes and car parts retailer said Tuesday.

Mason is just the latest in a line of Halfords executives to be snapped up by rivals, the most recent being Jill McDonald, who stepped down as chief executive officer in October to take a top post at Marks & Spencer Group Plc.

“Halfords has suffered several times now in terms of losing good management to larger retailers,” Sanjay Vidyarthi, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, wrote in a note. “The positive is the strength of the people it is capable of hiring, the negative is clearly the lack of continuity.”

Here’s a list of Halfords’ main executive departures over the past decade:

  • October 2017: McDonald stepped down as CEO to join Marks & Spencer as managing director for clothing, home & beauty
  • October 2015: Andrew Findlay left his post as CFO to take the same role at EasyJet Plc
  • May 2015: Matt Davies departed as CEO to join Tesco Plc as head of the U.K. grocer’s domestic business
  • David Wild, who was CEO from 2008 to 2012, now holds the same position at Domino’s Pizza Group, a role he has been in since 2014
  • November 2010: Nick Wharton quit to become CEO designate of Dunelm, subsequently taking over as CFO of Superdry
  • February 2008: Ian McLeod quit as CEO to join Wesfarmers Ltd. as managing director of Australian supermarket chain Coles

--With assistance from Paul Jarvis

To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Pham in London at lpham14@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis, John Viljoen

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