Debenhams CFO leaves for Selfridges

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Apr 19, 2018

Debenhams chief financial officer Matt Smith is leaving the department store chain to take up the position of finance director at Selfridges. The announcement follows disappointing interim results on Thursday.

Debenhams has begun to search for his successor, and confirmed that Smith will continue in his role to ensure an orderly handover. He has been at Debenhams since 2015, joining from Mothercare, where he had the same position.

Prior to that, he was finance director at Argos for eight years, and director of finance at Home Retail Group.

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CEO Sergio Bucher, who also revealed on Thursday a 2.4% decline in profit and 84.6% slump in pre-tax profit for the 26 weeks to March 3, commented: "I would like to thank Matt for his support since I joined the company and his key role in devising and implementing our Debenhams Redesigned strategy.

“His hard work and wise counsel have been very valuable during a period of significant change and I look forward to our continuing to work together in the coming months."

Ian Cheshire, chairman, added: “On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Matt for his significant contribution to Debenhams over the past three years. We wish him every success in the future."