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Dame Sharon White is to take on the role of chairman of economic consultancy Frontier Economics, replacing Gus O’Donnell, who has held the post for the last 11 years.
White, who retired as chairman of John Lewis in September, said she had long been an admirer of Frontier.
“The strength and integrity of its economic analysis is unparalleled,” she said.
“I have seen at first hand the impact it has had both on public policy and on the commercial strategies of some of the biggest businesses in the UK, Europe and globally. Frontier is genuinely at the frontier of some of the most important issues confronting businesses and governments: AI adoption, the green transition, competition and regulation. I am so looking forward to working with the team as Frontier goes from strength to strength.”
O’Donnell will remain with Frontier as an ambassador.
“I have loved being chair of Frontier Economics for the last 11 years, but now is the time to move on,” he said. “It is not often that such a well-qualified candidate as Sharon White becomes available, and I am delighted she will be taking over to become our third ever chair – the first being Sarah Hogg.”
Frontier Economics is one of the largest economic consultancies in Europe with offices in Berlin, Brussels, Cologne, Dublin, London, Madrid and Paris.
Morning update
Lidl has revealed that demand for plant-based products is continuing to soar after the supermarket experienced double-digit growth in the category over the past year.
Building on strong sales growth, the discounter is more than tripling the number of plant-based products that it offers shoppers, with the newly expanded range set to appear in selected stores from this month, ahead of completing a national roll out by January 2025.
“We’re the first UK retailer to set specific plant-based protein targets and are committed to breaking down key barriers that currently exist within the category, like price, quality, and availability,” said chief commercial officer Richard Bourns.
This week in the City
After a quiet start, there is plenty going on this week.
A Q3 trading update from Unilever on Thursday will be closely watched as investors monitor Hein Schumacher’s turnaround plan. Underlying sales at the group are forecast to rise by 4.2% in the quarter.
Tomorrow brings full-year results from Virgin Wines, with quarterly results also due from L’Oreal, Kimberly-Clark and Philip Morris.
Reckitt Benckiser puts out a Q3 trading update on Wednesday morning, alongside Heineken and Carrefour, with Coca-Cola publishing quarterly results over in the US.
As well as Unilever’s results on Thursday, rival CPG group Danone also reports, as does Kerry, Beiersdorf and Keurig Dr Pepper, with Amazon putting out its own figures later in the day.
Rémy Cointreau and Colgate-Palmolive round out the week, publishing quarterly results on Friday. And the closely watched GFK Consumer Confidence index is also out on Friday morning.
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