Matalan appoints new CFO

Matalan has announced the appointment of Dave Williams to the initial role of chief financial officer designate, which will graduate to the full CFO role and a position on the retailer’s board. The announcement comes as the latest CFO Stephen Hill has decided to “step down and pursue his next challenge” after 23 years in the role. He will continue to work with the business in a new capacity as advisor to the board for the next few months. Williams was most recently the financial director of Poundland, where he also led the property, legal and assurance functions and during his five years with the business helped grow and transform it into a £2bn multi-price value retailer. He joins the clothing retailer with more than 20 years of experience in retail, having previously been commercial director at JD Sports and CFO at a number of retailers including JJB Sports, TJ Hughes and Focus Wickes. In addition, Williams qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG, where he gained transactional experience as a director in the firm’s transactions services practice. Jo Whitfield, CEO of Matalan, said: “Stephen has been instrumental in helping shape Matalan over a long period, bringing significant investment into the business in supporting its ongoing development including the modernisation of our supply chain, developing our omnichannel capabilities, and opening lots of fantastic new stores. “His extensive financial, commercial and leadership qualities have proved invaluable and helped steer Matalan to a solid financial footing. More recently, Stephen has played an important part of the new Leadership team that has stabilised the business after its change in ownership last year, successfully returning it to profit growth.” She added: “I would like to thank Stephen for his vast contribution to the business and look forward to working with him in his new Board advisor capacity in the coming months.” Hill said: “It has been a privilege to spend so many years with the fantastic colleagues at Matalan, whose talent, hard work, and endless commitment to our customers has made my time both professionally rewarding and extremely enjoyable. I wish the business and Dave in his new role as CFO every success in the future.”