The long-serving chief executive of Scotmid is retiring after 30 years with the co-operative society, which owns food stores and funeral homes.
John Brodie, 59, has spent more than 18 years in the top role after initially joining in 1993 as Scotmid’s chief financial officer.
The chartered accountant intends to stay with the group until next August to ensure plenty of time for a successor to be found.
He suggested it would be “foot to the floor” until then and indicated he had no firm plans for what he might do next.
The co-operative society told The Times it had begun the process of identifying his successor.
Scotmid operates 187 food stores, 63 Semichem health and beauty outlets and 16 funeral homes across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the north of England.
It employs more than 3,500 people and also owns an extensive property portfolio.
Interim results for the six months to the end of July showed a rise in turnover of nearly 6% to £212.4million, while profits rose 26% to close to £1.5million.
FTSE 100
The UK's top share index, the FTSE 100, was 23-points at 7,600 shortly after opening this morning, following yesterday's 59-point drop.
Brent crude futures were down 1.09% at $92.27 a barrel.
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