Smart to leave Boots in time for merger
Jim Smart, chief financial officer of Boots, will have to step down from his position in July after less than a year in the job
Smart, who was appointed in October last year, joined Boots as financial
controller in 2003 and will be replaced by Alliance UniChem group finance
director George Fairweather after the high street chemist revealed that its £7bn
merger with Alliance UniChem would be completed by the end of July.
‘Jim Smart will be replaced by George Fairweather when the merger between
Boots and Alliance UniChem is completed in the summer,’ a Boots spokeswoman
said.
The spokeswoman added that it was still to be decided whether Smart would
have a role on the merged company’s board and was unable to comment on his
future plans. Smart was made Boots CFO in the same week that Boots and Alliance
UniChem announced that they would merge to create Alliance Boots.
Since his appointment Smart has overseen a 4% increase in the Boots share
price, as well as the successful £1.93bn sale of Boots Healthcare International
to Reckitt Benckiser.