Inchcape appoints former BP CFO Byron Grote as non-executive director

Inchape has appointed former BP finance director Byron Grote as a non-executive director.

The AM100 PLC will add Grote’s expertise from January 3, it said in a statement issued via the London Stock Exchange this morning (October 31).

Grote will become a member of the audit and nomination committees upon appointment.

Among his board level experience, Grote was previously chief financial officer at energy giant BP between 2002 to 2011.

He is also a current senior independent director at Tesco, a non-executive director at InterContinental Hotels Group, and deputy chairman of the supervisory board at Akzo Nobel N.V.

Grote will retire from a non-executive director at Standard Chartered November 30, meanwhile, and has previously served on the boards of Unilever and Anglo-American.

Inchcape chairman Nigel Stein, said he was “delighted” that Byron was joining the Inchcape board, adding: “Byron's extensive finance and international experience will both complement and strengthen the existing board. We are looking forward to working with him.”

In July AM reported Inchcape's sale of Toyota dealership in Oxford, over three weeks after AM initially reported the move.

The move represented a further disposal for Inchcape – profiled by AM last year – after a restructure brought about the sale or closure of 20 dealerships in the space of two years and the loss of the ‘retail’ classification from its London Stock Exchange listing as its global focus shifted towards distribution.

Inchcape UK CEO George Ashford later said said that the sale of Toyota Oxford was in line with Toyota’s overall strategy to reshape their market areas in the UK.

He added: “Whilst we recently completed the purchase of Toyota Warrington from Bentleys Motor Group, reflecting our strong presence in the north, Steven Eagell has a long-standing history in the South making them a good business to take on the well-established and successful Oxford centre.”