Charles Wilson joins Menzies board acquiring 10 per cent stake

Former Booker chief executive Charles Wilson joined the board of Menzies Distribution as a non-executive director, effective immediately, following his acquisition of a 10 per cent stake in the news wholesaler.

A highly respected figure in the food retailing industry – he won the Ram Solanki Editor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Asian Trader Awards earlier this year – Wilson retired from Booker in February after 15 years at the helm.

“Charles Wilson joining Menzies is a fantastic endorsement of our strategy to be the partner of choice to the publishing and retail markets,” Greg Michael, chief executive of Menzies, said.

“The team is very excited to be working with Charles to accelerate customer growth opportunities. We are looking forward to the insight that Charles will bring to support our ambitions through our unique set of services and capabilities.”

The move follows recent significant developments at Menzies which saw former Asda chief executive Andy Clarke joining as non-executive chairman and the company acquiring Bibby Distribution from Bibby Line Group.

Charles Wilson said: “I am delighted to be joining Menzies Distribution as an investor and non-executive director. The company has a strong management team, great colleagues and serves important customers. I look forward to supporting Andy Clarke our chairman, Greg Michael our CEO and the rest of the Menzies team in helping our customers prosper.”

The Federation of Independent Retailers (NFRN) has welcomed the announcement, terming it as a “hugely positive move.”

“Charles has been a good friend of independent retailers and on behalf of the NFRN, I very much welcome his appointment to the Menzies board,” Stuart Reddish, national president of the organisation, said,

“Charles is extremely well respected within the independent retail sector and will bring with him a wealth of retail experience and expertise. At Booker, his ethos was always about the customer, seeing retailers as individuals rather than numbers.

“We hope he will bring some fresh thinking and a pro-active approach towards addressing the issues faced by independent news retailers.”