Burberry, the struggling luxury fashion brand, is seeking a new board member who could take over from Gerry Murphy, its chairman.
Sky News has learnt that Burberry, which last week ousted its chief executive, is working with headhunters to identify two new non-executives who would be contenders to replace Mr Murphy.
A definitive timetable for the chairman’s departure has yet to be established, but sources said the search process amounted to an “indirect hunt” for Mr Murphy’s successor.
“They have been pretty explicit that the job is available for the right person,” said one luxury goods insider.
Burberry, which accompanied news last week of Jonathan Akeroyd’s departure as CEO with the latest in a string of profit warnings, has turned to the former Jimmy Choo boss Joshua Schulman as his replacement.
The company hopes that Mr Schulman can arrest an alarming decline in the fortunes of one of Britain’s best-known luxury brands.
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Its market value has sunk to little more than £2.5bn.
Mr Murphy, who also chairs Tesco, has led the Burberry board since 2018.
The company is not alone in struggling in the luxury goods sector, with its much larger rival LVMH reporting slower-than-expected sales this week.
Shares in Burberry closed on Wednesday at £7.04, having slumped by 16% on the day of last week’s management overhaul.