LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Compass Group has poached its new chief financial officer, Karen Witts, from B&Q owner Kingfisher.
The catering group said on Thursday that Witts, who has been CFO at Kingfisher since 2012, will begin her appointment on a date to be agreed.

Prior to her role at Kingfisher, Witts held senior finance positions at Vodafone and BT. Her early career included finance roles at Paribas, Grand Metropolitan and Ernst & Whinney.

Witts - a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee at tobacco company Imperial Brands - will succeed Johnny Thomson who, as previously announced, is standing down at the end of December.

Chief executive officer Dominic Blakemore said: "We are delighted to welcome Karen to Compass Group. Her financial and operational expertise will be highly complementary to our team and she brings with her a wealth of experience in retail and technology. I very much look forward to working with her as we continue to execute our strategy and create value for shareholders."

Kingfisher said in a statement that it will conduct a search for a replacement but in the meantime, Witts will be staying on to allow a smooth handover of her responsibilities.

At 1620 BST, Compass shares were up 1% to 1,558.50p and Kingfisher was 3.4% weaker at 252.20p.

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