The surprise resignation of Primark’s boss, Paul Marchant, due to poor social conduct has caused shockwaves across the retail industry.
Marchant’s departure was promoted by an investigation by Primark’s owner ABF into the CEO’s behaviour towards a female individual, which Marchant called an ‘error of judgement’.
Chief executive of ABF, George Weston, said he was “immensely disappointed”.
ABF’s share price fell nearly four per cent after the announcement, but later stabilised to trade down two per cent, in line with wider market declines.
“It’s clearly concerning investors who may be mindful that it could be an even greater challenge to revitalise Primark’s revenue – given that full-year guidance was lowered slightly from mid-single-digit to low single-digit growth,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
‘Primark is a well-oiled machine’
Most analysts were relatively upbeat about Primark and ABF’s medium-term prospects (the former accounts for around half of the latter’s revenue).
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the situation would cause only “temporary disruption” to the business.
“Primark is a well-oiled machine and [interim CEO] Eoin Tonge is no stranger to thinking on his feet and adapting to different roles, having previously held a range of finance and strategy positions at Marks & Spencer and Greencore,” Mould added.
Tonge is ABF’s finance director, who will act as Primark chief executive on an interim basis, while ABF Group Financial Controller Joana Edwards will act as interim ABF Finance Director.
Barclays analysts Warren Ackerman and Patrick Folan supported Mould’s view.
“[Tonge] has been very involved in the strategic development of Primark since he joined in 2023, he has been to the US on multiple occasions over the last few years to discuss strategy with the US leadership on the US roll-out plan and is close to the European business.
“In Europe, Primark have a good leadership team with country managers throughout the region which should mean no disruption from an execution perspective.”
‘We don’t think Primark are in a rush to fill the void’
“In terms of the succession process, Primark is one of the top roles in retail and will likely receive a lot of interest from potential candidates.
“[But] we don’t think Primark are in a rush to fill the void until they find the right person to take charge as the business is in capable hands with Eoin leading in the interim,” Ackerman and Folan said.
Managing Partner at didlaw, Elizabeth McGlone, added that she didn’t think the issue was likely to be widespread within Primark, further minimising the fallout.
“There is nothing to indicate that this is anything other than an isolated incident so it’s unlikely to take the same course as the investigation into Mohammed Al Fayed or McDonalds – although if further allegations do emerge that may change.”
