A statement released by German retailer Metro's chief executive Eckhard Cordes has revealed that he is to leave his position when his contract expires next year.
Cordes announced that he had informed the company's supervisory board and principal shareholders that he did not wish to prolong his contract once it had expired on 31 October next year.
'Taking this decision is not easy for me and I would like to thank the principal shareholders, the Haniel and Schmidt-Ruthenbeck families, who expressly supported my contract prolongation and wished for it in numerous talks with me,' said Crodes. 'In addition I appreciate the various support received from the other supervisory board members and capital market participants.'
The announcement follows weeks of speculation in the German press that Cordes had lost the support of some supervisory board members after failure to offload department store chain Kaufhof and hypermarket unit Real, while labour representatives had also criticised the decision to implement a programme of job cuts.
Despite receiving the backing of some of the groups major shareholders, Cordes said that the public nature of his contract extension had the potential to negatively impact on the retailer.
'However, due to the incidents of the recent weeks and months I have come to the conclusion that the trustful basis to stay on as the head of Metro AG's top management does not anymore exist,' he explained. 'Hence, speculation regarding my contractual prolongation – pushed by whomever – were repeatedly made public, which threatened to harm the company, the principal shareholders and myself. However, a company requires a trustful cooperation and a unity of the highest degree between the management and supervisory board. Single party interests, including my own, must rank behind those of the company.'
He added that it would be 'fatal for the future of the company and its employees' for a lack of trust in the Metro's leadership to undermine its future restructuring and return to profitability.
'Since 2007 the management board, together with the supervisory board, has initiated and implemented the course for a new Metro; these measures led to record earnings last year,' Cordes noted. 'The company is heading in the right direction. In order to make this direction irreversible, it is also surely now a chance to revitalise top management with a new, younger generation of managers.'
