Tesco UK chief Davies to take reins at online retailer N Brown

The UK boss of Tesco (Frankfurt: 852647 - news) will this week become one of the youngest chairmen of a FTSE-350 company when he takes the reins at N Brown Group, the online retailer.

Sky News has learnt that Matt Davies, who is leaving Tesco after its £3.7bn‎ takeover of wholesaler Booker Group (LSE: BOK.L - news) completes, has been lined up to succeed Andy Higginson in the role.

N Brown (LSE: BWNG.L - news) , which trades under brands such as JD Williams, a department store concept, menswear label Jacamo and Simply Be, a fashion range aimed at larger women, has been searching for Mr Higginson's replacement for months.

Despite only being in his mid-40s, Mr Davies‎ is a retail veteran, having run chains including Pets at Home (Frankfurt: A1XFE7 - news) and Halfords.

He joined Tesco in 2015, when it was recovering from the accounting scandal which saw Britain's biggest retailer pay more than £125m to settle a case brought by the Serious Fraud Office.

Tesco announced just weeks ago that Mr Davies would step down after the Booker deal closes, with Charles Wilson, the wholesaler's boss, replacing him as head of the broader UK and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) operations.

Headquartered in Manchester, N Brown employs more than 2,600 people in the UK and has a market value of ‎just over £535m.

Mr Davies's appointment is expected to be announced early this week.

A spokesman for the company declined to comment on Sunday.