Tesco has announced the appointment of John Allan as chairman from March 1st, joining the supermarket from Dixons where he was also chairman.

His appointment comes as Tesco is undergoing an overhaul, with plans to close under-performing stores and cut jobs.

Patrick Cescau, senior independent director of Tesco, said: "Following a deep and thorough process run by a committee of independent non-executive directors, the board unanimously agreed that John Allan was the right candidate to chair Tesco at this important time. On behalf of the board I would like to thank Richard for his work as chairman.

“He has served the business with unflinching commitment through a period of unprecedented change, and put in place a new senior leadership team for the next stage of Tesco's development."

Mr Allan is the latest person to join the re-structured management team at Tesco, following in the footsteps of Matt Davies, the current boss of Halfords who will be in charge of operations in the UK and Republic of Ireland from June, and newly-appointed chief executive Dave Lewis who joined the team six months ago.