Online price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com has appointed Mark Lewis, retail director at John Lewis, as its new chief executive, just days after the department store chain appointed Paula Nickolds to its top role.
Mr Lewis will take over from Peter Plumb, who announced in August that he would be leaving after eight years at the company. Mr Lewis is due to take up his role by May next year.
During Mr Plumb's tenure the market value of Moneysupermarket, a FTSE 250 company, has risen fivefold to £1.4bn. Revenues in 2015 were 13.5 per cent higher year on year to £281.7m, while net income rose 20 per cent to £63.43m.
Mr Lewis was previously online director at John Lewis and worked as managing director of eBay UK. According to John Lewis, he had said he wanted to return to his "natural world of digital disruption".
It is understood that Mr Lewis's appointment was not related to Ms Nickolds' being appointed managing director at John Lewis, the first female to hold the role in the chain's 152-year history.
Mr Lewis was involved in the first round of interviews, in early August for the Moneysupermarket job and was contacted by executives well before then, said one person close to the selection process.
Mr Lewis said: "I have loved my four years at John Lewis. I am very proud of everything we have achieved. It has been my privilege to work with a winning team which I know will continue to successfully define the future of omnichannel retailing."
Analysts said Mr Lewis's experience of overseeing an online systems upgrade at John Lewis would be invaluable in his new role. Ian Whittaker, analyst at Liberum, said: "The investment in Moneysupermarket's technology platform could be the key to starting to grow and protect the margins as well as growing the top line."
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