Consignia appoint new interim chairman

Consignia has appointed former Asda chief executive Allan Leighton as its interim chairman.

Mr Leighton, who was already a non-executive director of the company, will stay in the job until a permanent chairman is appointed later in the year. Chief executive John Roberts will continue to run the company on a day-to-day basis.

Asda have already denied reports that it plans to shut half of its 17,500 UK post offices. This comes as the company continues to be burdened by the hefty cost of maintaining a national network of post offices.

The company has made a record £281m loss for the six months to October and last year closed 500 post offices. It may also have to axe as many as 30,000 jobs as part of a plan to reduce costs by £1.2bn by April 2003. (MB)