In the news: Tesco's newly appointed chairman John Allan profiled

After ex-Kingfisher boss Sir Ian Cheshire pulled out of the running last month, the race to succeed outgoing Tesco chairman Sir Richard Broadbent boiled down to the proverbial two-horse race, between Allan and former Asda boss Archie Norman.

Despite some late support from the City for the latter, it was the Dixons Carphone deputy chairman who was named as the unanimous choice of the Tesco board.

There is no doubting that his impressive transformation of Dixons would have proved a key factor in that decision-making process, but Allan’s broad boardroom experiences fit the other main criteria the supermarket giant were looking for in their new man.

Given its current troubles, the grocer needed someone with a proven track record as chair of a FTSE 100 company. It needed someone with experience of running an international business, a customer-facing business and a business that required a large-scale turnaround. In Allan, they have found a man who ticks all of those particular boxes.

Cultural fit

Dixons Carphone chief executive Seb James believes Allan will be a great fit for the Tesco culture and provide a useful mentoring role for Dave Lewis.

“He is a tough chairman but he is also a very good moral compass and he is extraordinarily supportive,” says James. “He has been a fantastic chairman for me for my first gig [as chief executive] just as it is Dave Lewis’ first gig. Tesco will enjoy having someone who is relatively low key and who is just going to get on with it in a very calm and unflustered way.”

Much has been made of Allan’s hands-off role following his appointment as chair of Tesco, but James believes this to be one of Allan’s strengths.

“He is comparatively hands off, he is there when you need him but he is definitely not a meddler, which I think is great,” says James.

The only child of a former chief petty officer in the Royal Navy, Allan graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1970 with a degree in mathematical sciences. His early career started with Lever Bros, now part of British food and home-goods manufacturer Unilever, and Bristol-Myers, where he served in a number of marketing roles.

In 1977, he moved on to Fine Fare, a subsidiary of Associated British Foods, as the retail director for marketing, buying and retail operations. Allan spent eight years at the retailer, but has not been involved in grocery since departing to become a divisional chief executive at British Electric Traction in 1985.

Nine years later, Allan was appointed as chief executive of freight company Ocean Group. Under his leadership, the firm merged with its rival NFC to become Excel, which was acquired by Deutsche Post in 2005 for a share price five times that when Allan took over in 1994.

Allan joined the Deutsche Post board to manage the integration and then oversee the new logistics division, which employed 150,000 workers and amassed a turnover in excess of €27bn.

By 2007, Allan became chief financial officer of Deutsche Post and held this position for two years, stepping down from that position in 2009 in favour of a return to the UK as chairman of Dixons.

Dixons turnaround

Allan famously oversaw a huge turnaround in the electricals retailer’s fortunes, with Dixons share price more than quadrupling ahead of the £3.7bn merger with Carphone Warehouse in August 2014 – something he was an instrumental figure in.

He took on the role of deputy chairman following that merger, one of three roles he will quit in order to take over at Tesco. Allan will also resign from his positions as a non-executive director of Royal Mail and senior adviser to the consultancy Alix Partners.  

Allan has agreed to step down as chairman of DHL once a successor is found but will continue as chairman of Barratt Developments and WorldPay for the foreseeable future.

Allan summed up the key to that success in a rare interview with the Mail on Sunday back in 2009. He said: “It is not the responsibility of the chairman and the non-executives to run the company, but to ensure it is well managed, with good governance.”

He has recently moved to London with his partner, a keen English watercolourist, in order to enjoy the capital’s theatres and restaurants more often, according to James. When he isn’t taking in shows, Allan spends a lot of time with his grandchildren.

However, juding by the scale of the task he is facing at Tesco, the opportunities to babysit the grandchildren and dine out in London are likely to be few and far between.