7:43 am, May 4, 2020
Inchcape has appointed Duncan Tait as its new chief executive who will take over from Stefan Bomhard on July 1 – and he’s already taken a pay cut.
After a period of handover during June, Tait – who was previously on the board of Fujitsu – will take over.
Tait will be paid around the same as Bomhard, but has already accepted a 20 per pay cut, which was announced last month for all board members and senior executives.
At Fujitsu, Tait had responsibility for the $10bn turnover global technology services firm’s EMEIA & America regions, which has 35,000 staff.
Tait said: ‘I am very pleased to be joining Inchcape and leading the business at such a dynamic time for the automotive sector.
‘I look forward to working with a very talented management team as we navigate through the complexities of Covid-19, on the next phase of the company’s growth plan, at the same time maximising the opportunities that will come from new and developing trends in the industry.’
The appointment follows Stefan Bomhard’s decision to step down and leave the business on June 30 in order to take up the position of Group CEO at Imperial Brands.
In 2019, Inchcape reported profit before tax of £402m, up a hefty 256 per cent year-on-year, although the figure was enhanced because because it sold off parts of its business, and in the previous year had to fork out for ‘impairment charges’.
The company’s ‘pre-exceptional’ profit before tax was down 7.4 per cent, and stood at at £326.3m.
Nigel Stein, Inchcape chairman, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Duncan to Inchcape. He is an exceptional chief executive and I am confident that Duncan’s style and approach will be a good fit with Inchcape’s culture and values, and his substantial technology-focused background will help the acceleration of our Ignite strategy.
‘Duncan has worked with numerous industries and governments around the world and also brings with him experience of the automotive industry having been Fujitsu’s executive sponsor for Ford Motor Company.
‘He was accountable for programmes with VW, Daimler and BMW, including work on autonomous vehicle and mobility projects. His almost 10-year experience of Japanese business and culture will also be valuable to our business.’
Bomhard added: ‘I would like to thank Nigel, the board and my colleagues on the group executive team for their support over the last five years in the transformation of Inchcape towards a distribution weighted business model behind the Ignite strategy.
‘This is fundamentally a very strong business with, I believe, a great future of growth ahead, and I wish everyone at Inchcape the very best.’
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