KappAhl names another interim CEO ahead of permanent chief's arrival

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 16, 2018

The management changes are continuing at KappAhl with the board on Friday naming its CFO Peter Andersson as acting CEO until the new President and CEO, Elisabeth Peregi, assumes her position during the spring of 2019.

It was something of a surprise announcement with Göran Bille, who had been acting CEO of the firm since June 15, having declined to extend his temporary appointment beyond the expiry of his agreement on December 15. He said this was due to “his foreign residency and other commitments, among other things as board member of KappAhl.”

So Andersson, who has been CFO since April, is now in temporary charge at the company that has seen difficult trading in recent periods and whose previous CEO Danny Feltmann quit in June in a strategy dispute with the board. 

Andersson was born in 1964 and is a trained economist with an MBA from the University of Gothenburg. He has “many years of international experience from the retail business out of strategic and operational perspectives as well as qualified work in financial and risk management,” KappAhl said. He has previously worked for the Lindex chain and ICA Handlarna, among others.

The extent of KappAhl’s challenges was clear a couple of months ago when it reported that an intensely competitive market and lower store footfall had driven sales down 3.2% in the year to August. Operating profit for the year also plunged to SEK282 million from SEK448 million.