Tesco says former BP executive to join board as non-exec

Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, has beefed-up its board with the appointment of Byron Grote, a former BP chief finance officer, as a non-executive director from May 1.

The firm also said on Wednesday that non-executive director Gareth Bullock would retire from the main board on March 5 but remain on the board of Tesco Bank.

Tesco's board composition has changed dramatically in the wake of last year's four profit warnings and a 263 million pounds ($403 million) profit overstatement that sent its shares to a 14-year low and drew stinging criticism of the board's financial oversight.

Richard Broadbent will be succeeded as Tesco chairman by John Allan on March 1. A new chief executive, Dave Lewis, and finance director, Alan Stewart, were appointed last year.

Further non-executive changes were made last week.

Grote was BP's CFO from 2002 to 2011 and is also a former colleague of Lewis at Unilever, having served as a non-exec there for nine years.