Matalan has been working its way closer to growth in recent periods and a big part of that has been its CEO, Jo Whitfield, who took the helm of the company just 18 months ago. But on Monday the company announced her exit.

We’re told that her departure is linked to her pursuit of a portfolio career, and the company was full of praise for her achievements despite her departure coming at a time when Matalan is still going through a transitional period.

Whitfield has been a huge part of the change process at the business since it moved to its current ownership and has guided the company towards improved product offerings that are more closer aligned with consumer demand. 

She’s also been putting a stronger leadership team in place, including chief customer and omnichannel officer Ali Jones, chief trading officer Ben Smith and chief supply chain operation officer Phil Hackney.

Matalan chair Karl-Heinz Holland will now become executive chair until the firm finds a successor to its outgoing CEO with the company currently looking for that person.

Holland said of Whitfield: “She has led the team that has stabilised the business and, perhaps most importantly, she has put customers and colleagues back at the heart of everything we do. Matalan is a business with strong fundamentals and remains on a firm financial and operational footing. The board has every confidence that we will deliver our strategic plan.”

And Whitfield herself added that she and her team have “reset the business foundations against a very challenging backdrop, have improved profitability in the first year and developed a strategy to take the business forward. I am confident that Matalan will continue to thrive and I wish my colleagues and leadership team every success for the future.”

Matalan remained loss-making in its 2023/24 financial year but its losses narrowed as it improved margins and saw operational improvements. That was despite revenue falling, although the drop was affected by strategic decisions the company had taken as well as the challenging conditions in the market.