Tesco Asia chief Potts to retire

DAVID Potts, the Manchester-born chief executive of Tesco Asia, is to retire from the supermarket group.

Potts, 53, who has been with the grocer for nearly 39 years, including 13 as a PLC board director, wants to ” begin to fulfil long held personal ambitions,” Tesco said in a statement.

Potts, whose two sons work in the Manchester business community has previously played down speculation linking him to the vacant chief executive’s role at Manchester City FC – which he has supported all his life.

He will leave Tesco Asia immediately and will work on projects for the chief executive until retiring at the end of June next year.

Paying tribute to Potts, Tesco chief executive Philip Clarke said: “I have worked alongside David for most of his time at Tesco.  I want to thank him for his commitment to, and relentless efforts on behalf of, our customers and colleagues and to do so on behalf of everyone at Tesco.

“David has been an incredible servant to the company and an inspiration to thousands of our leaders, whose own careers are flourishing because he played his part in developing many of the programmes which made the Tesco retail team amongst the most admired in the world. I wish him and his family all the very best in their future together.”