Tesco CEO Leahy retires; Philip Clarke to take over

Tesco has announced that its CEO, Sir Terry Leahy, is to step down from March 2011 after 14 years at the helm of the UK’s biggest supermarket Group, during which he has overseen a huge expansion in Tesco’s operations.

Apart from the acquisition or launch of supermarket chains in Poland, Turkey, Thailand, Japan and the US, Leahy, 55, moved Tesco into mobile phones, banking, and presided over the hugely successful marketing intelligence database that is its Clubcard loyalty scheme – a database the Wall Street Journal once claimed was responsible for thwarting some of rival Wal-Mart's UK ambitions.

Leahy said: "When I became CEO I had a plan to build Tesco around its customers, to make it number one in the UK and to find new long-term
growth in non-food, in services and in international expansion."

He says he will maintain his "large shareholding" in Tesco while
concentrating on private investing to keep himself occupied in his
retirement.

Leahy will be replaced as CEO by Philip Clarke (pictured), who currently runs Tesco's European and Asian operations and IT. The 50-year-old has worked at Tesco for his whole career, since graduating from Liverpool University.

Tesco shares fell 1.5 per cent in early trading following the announcement. ·