Tesco: Outgoing chair John Allan to offload stake in mentoring firm days after quitting the supermarket
Tesco chairman John Allan will reportedly sell his 20 per cent stake in a blue chip mentoring company days after he announced his departure from Britain’s biggest supermarket.
The outgoing boss’ latest moves comes after he announced he’d leave Tesco amid claims that he behaved inappropriately towards women, though Tesco said it found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Allan denied three of the four charges made against him, and apologised for the fourth incident.
He is understood to be negotiating his stake in J&A Mentoring to his co-founder, Anna Joseph, whom he helped develop the business with in 2018, according to Sky News.
Reports suggest that Allan intends to remain involved with the company, despite some of his details being removed from the J&A’s website on Friday, when his resignation as Tesco chairman was announced to the market.
However, Joseph told Sky News that a shareholder agreement created at the time of the company’s launch “anticipated her acquiring his stake after five years”.
“We started those conversations early in 2023 – some months before any press coverage about the CBI broke – and also that he would step back from the chair role to that of co-founder [which he continues to be],” she told the outlet.
“When the unproven allegations [which JA continues to vigorously contest] were exposed by The Guardian I sent an email out to all J&A’s mentors – with JA’s explicit prior knowledge and blessing – articulating that such a stepping back was already in hand and would continue to be executed on.”
It comes as the scandal stricken chairman has continued to contest that he engaged in inappropriate behaviour relating to four women, denying all but one remark he made towards a colleague at the CBI regarding her figure.
Allan, who chaired Tesco for eight years, has also been accused of touching the bottom of one woman at a CBI annual dinner – however he denies this happening.
Last week, Allan revealed that he would step down from his role in Teso at its June AGM after the allegations risked “becoming a distraction to Tesco”.
Speaking at the time, Byron Grote, the senior independent director at Tesco, said: “While we have received no complaints about John’s conduct and made no findings of wrongdoing, these allegations risk becoming a distraction to Tesco.”
City A.M has contacted J&A Mentoring Partners for a comment.