Corporate high flier opts for a change in direction

The 45-year-old revealed yesterday that he wants to turn his back on big corporate life and focus instead on helping small to medium-sized business to achieve their full growth potential.

As executive chairman of both firms, he will invest his own money and offer management time in return for an equity stake in both businesses.

The appointments represent a change of direction for the retail high flier, who has long been seen as a prime candidate to head a FTSE 100 company but now says he wants to move on from large executive roles.

Republic and Euro Garages are near to his Yorkshire home and have plans to grow from medium-sized players into large-scale national operators.

Republic trades from 113 stores, offering high street brands such as G-Star, Henleys and Diesel as well as its own labels such as Soul Cal and Miso.

Tim Whitworth, chief executive, told the Yorkshire Post last month that the chain "could probably grow to 250 stores in the UK" and would then consider international expansion.

Blackburn-based Euro Garages is the UK's second largest independent forecourt operator with 67 sites across the Midlands and North of England. It has a turnover of 285m and employs about 1,000 people.

Mr Bond, who lives in Harrogate, has already announced his involvement with Portsmouth-based Wiggle, an online shop for racing bike enthusiasts.

He told The Sunday Times that he welcomed the opportunity to take a more measured and longer-term view of trading. Mr Bond said: "A lot of big companies don't have the ability to focus on long-term growth any more because they have to be the masters of short-term financial control.

"They are corrupted by the need to report those results rather than sort out where they are going for the next five years."

Mr Bond's departure as chief executive of Wal-Mart-owned Asda was announced in April but he stayed on as chairman and headed the Wal-Mart team that recently bought South Africa's Massmart.

His departure from his subsequent part-time role as chairman of the Asda executive committee was announced last week.

Mr Bond added: "Every job has a lifespan, and you judge when it's right to move on. My track record demonstrates that I've done a good job."

Archie Norman, his former boss at Asda, said: "Andy is high energy, edgy, he creates electricity, but he is not that interested in big corporate entities. He always said he wanted to do something more entrepreneurial, and now he's doing it."

Read our interview with his successor, Andy Clarke, tomorrow.