Hornby lands top Boots job
FORMER HBOS chief executive Andy Hornby, who was criticised for allowing the bank to ring up huge corporate losses, was yesterday named as chief executive of high street giant Alliance Boots.
The failed banker is likely to receive a pay package of around £1m. Although the company refused to give a precise breakdown of Hornby’s wages, executive chairman Stefano Pessina yesterday told City PM “it will be in line with what other managers get, but maybe a bit more… nothing extreme, nothing unusual.”
Richard Baker, the former chief executive of Alliance Boots and Hornby’s former colleague from their spell at supermarket Asda, received £1.18m in 2007 before he quit after private equity firm KKR’s £11bn takeover of the group.
The appointment of Hornby comes despite the backlash against his role in the demise of HBOS before it was swallowed by Lloyds.
Oriel Securities analyst Jonathan Pritchard said that while Hornby faced criticism for the bank’s collapse his reputation in retail circles remained “unblemished”.
However, Pritchard added that Alliance Boots, as a private company, did not have to placate shareholders and, as such, could “do what it liked.”
Pessina will step back from the day-to-day running of the company and allow Hornby to take operational control.