8:57 am, November 28, 2022
Inchcape’s group chief financial officer has quit after a ‘lapse of judgment’, it was announced today.
In a brief statement issued this morning via the London Stock Exchange, the multinational automotive group said Gijsbert de Zoeten had voluntarily tendered his resignation and would be standing down from the board immediately.
Inchcape said it followed ‘an incident at a recent event where, through a lapse in judgment, the senior executive had displayed personal behaviour falling short of the high standards expected of the leadership of the group’.
No more details about the incident or where it took place were given, but Inchcape said that de Zoeten, pictured, wouldn’t receive any payment for his loss of office.
Adrian Lewis, who is the current group financial controller, has been made acting group chief financial officer while a permanent successor is found.
Inchcape added that the decision wasn’t related to the group’s financial performance or strategic direction, which included its recent acquisition of Derco, a shareholders circular about which is due to be published later today.
De Zoeten was appointed group chief financial officer at Inchcape in September 2019.
Previously, he had been senior vice-president for finance then chief financial officer at LeasePlan Corporation N.V.
Before that, he was chief financial officer for Unilever Europe.
De Zoeten has been a supervisory board member and audit committee chairman at the Technical University of Delft since May 2016.
Inchcape said the class 1 circular about the Derco purchase reaffirmed its 2022 outlook and expected timetable of completion.
