Co-op chief executive calls time on tenure

Mr Marks, who hails from Bradford, has spent the past six years as chief executive of the Co-operative Group.

He is best known for his expansion plans, which have included deals to buy Somerfield and over 600 Lloyds branches.

Mr Marks created the UK’s fifth largest player in food retailing when the Co-op bought rival supermarket chain Somerfield.

A merger with building society Britannia resulted in a new ‘super mutual’ in financial services.

The Co-op recently signed a deal to buy the 630 Lloyds branches under the Project Verde deal after Lloyds was told to sell the branches following its takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland at the height of the banking crisis.

Mr Marks, who became chief executive following the group’s merger with United Co-operatives, said the Co-op had been transformed over the past five years while “staying true to our roots as a mutual”.

He added: “Given all we have achieved, it now feels like the right time for me to stand down.”

The Co-op said it will consider external as well as internal candidates to replace Mr Marks, who at the age of 63 will retire at the group’s annual meeting in May.

Chairman Len Wardle said: “Peter has done a truly outstanding job for The Co-operative Group. He was the architect of the current strategy to ensure that we developed real scale in our key businesses.”

Mr Marks joined what became Yorkshire Co-operatives in 1967 as a management trainee in the food retail business.

He became its chief executive in 2000 and took on the same role when the mutual merged with United Norwest Co-operative in 2002 to form United Co-operatives.

He added: “I know this business will continue to flourish for years to come because of our determination to put the customer at the centre of everything we do and because I leave the group in very safe hands.”

His other high profile deals have included a joint venture with Thomas Cook to create an enlarged travel shop business.

As the UK’s largest mutual business with 4,800 retail outlets, the group employs more than 106,000 staff and generates an annual turnover of more than £13bn.