JD Sports picks retail veteran Higginson as new chairperson

(Reuters) -Britain’s largest sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion on Friday named Andrew Higginson, former chair of supermarkets group Morrisons, as its new chairperson, replacing Peter Cowgill who was ousted in May.

Higginson, who was the chairman of Morrisons when it was taken over by private-equity firm CD&R last year, has held senior roles for nearly 15 years at Britain’s no.1 supermarket chain Tesco.

He will start his new role at JD Sports on Monday.

JD Sports ousted longstanding executive chairman Cowgill due to issues with internal governance and controls. Cowgill managed the group ever since Barry Bown stepped down as the chief executive officer in 2014.

Subject to several investigations by Britain’s antitrust watchdog, JD Sports had laid out plans last month to overhaul its corporate governance structure and internal controls and stressed on the need for a more experienced board.

The FTSE-100 group, which last year split the roles of chairman and chief executive officer, is yet to appoint a CEO.

(Reporting by Amna Karimi and Shanima A in Bengaluru; Editing by Uttaresh.V and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)