Boardroom big hitter appointed by Bensons for Beds
Accrington-based nationwide bed and mattress retailer Bensons for Beds has appointed a boardroom big hitter to its team.
The group, which is backed by Europan retail sector specialist Alteri Investors and became a standalone business in 2020, has added Lindsay Haselhurst as a non-executive director. She will join the Bensons board this month.
Lindsay is currently chief operating officer at Currys, responsible for channels, operations and B2B having joined the technology retailer in 2020 as chief supply chain officer leading its supply chain and end-to-end customer experience.
Prior to Currys, Lindsay worked at international home improvement company Kingfisher, joining Screwfix as supply chain and operations director in 2014 before progressing to global supply and logistics director for the group.
She previously held a number of senior roles at logistics giant Wincanton across UK and Europe. Lindsay is a recognised leader in operations and supply chain, with more than 20 years’ experience and will work with Bensons’ chief executive, Nick Collard, and his fellow directors.
Welcoming her to the Bensons board, Bensons for Beds chairman, Ian Shepherd, said: “It is a huge testimony to the business that Bensons is becoming, that we are able to attract someone of Lindsay’s calibre to join our board.
“She is a top-class retail operator and I’m excited to see the contribution she will make to our transformation programme, supporting Nick Collard and his terrific team”.
Lindsay Haselhurst said: “I look forward to working with Ian, Nick and the team.”
Bensons for Beds has also released figures for the year ended September 24, 2022, which revealed revenues of £239.410m, and a pre-tax loss of £30.239m. That compares with figures for the five months to September 30, 2021, when the group achieved sales of £101.938m and a pre-tax loss of £2.638m.
In April this year the business said it was aiming for a 200-strong portfolio of stores. However, during its 2022 financial year, its locations fell from 177 to 165.
A statement, signed off by the board for the 2022 figures, said: “This trading period for the group has presented a range of challenges, both internal and external.
“External challenges over this period included the wide range of global and national impacts on consumer confidence.”
It listed the challenges as the impact of the war in Ukraine on consumer energy prices, wider inflationary pressures and the challenging macro-economic conditions which led to financial figures “which are below expectations”.
Directors said the internal challenges arose from COVID-related problems, order processing hitches in its logistics operations, and “a restructuring which proved unsucessful”.
However, the board added: “The business exits the period in a much stronger position than it entered it.”
In 2022, Bensons secured additional funding from Alteri to drive its growth strategy and transformation plans through investment in stores and digital developments.
