JD Wetherspoon has appointed Ben Thorne as chair of the company’s nomination committee.
He takes over from Sir Richard Beckett, who retires from the board on 17 November 2022.
Thorne was appointed to the board at the pub company in December 2020, as a non-executive director, joining the audit, remuneration and nomination committees at the same time. He is also the company’s senior independent director.
Thorne qualified as a solicitor in 1985, specialising in corporate law. He subsequently moved into investment banking in 1987 and has over 30 years’ experience in advising corporates, including (while at Kleinwort Benson) JD Wetherspoon, on a wide range of capital market and corporate finance issues.
He has subsequently held senior advisory posts at GCA Altium and Panmure Gordon and is currently a managing director at WH Ireland.
Last month the pub operator posted a loss before tax of £30.4m in 2022.
Chairman Tim Martin said the predicted post-lockdown boom, in which the public would “react to enforced cabin fever by embarking on a celebratory spree”, had not materialised for some operators, and was now being exacerbated by great inflation in costs.
Like-for-like (lfl) sales were down 4.7% for the 53 weeks ended 31 July 2022, however the first nine weeks of the current financial year, to 2 October 2022, saw lfls return to positive territory, increasing by 10.1%, comparable to the same period in 2021.
