BT Group Chairman Jan du Plessis Plans to Retire This Year

(Bloomberg) -- BT Group Plc Chairman Jan du Plessis will retire this year after two decades helming the boards of FTSE 100 companies.

Britain's biggest phone company will now start the search for a successor and du Plessis, 67, will retire once one has been appointed, it said in a statement Monday. He doesn't hold any other directorships.

Du Plessis replaced Mike Rake as chairman of BT in November 2017 and overhauled BT's leadership as it recovered from an accounting scandal discovered at its Italian unit. After seven months in the chairman role, he oversaw the removal of Chief Executive Officer Gavin Patterson and a few months later recruited Philip Jansen to replace him.

“After 17 years of demanding roles as chairman of significant FTSE companies, I know the time is now right for me to step down and focus on other interests,” du Plessis said in the statement.

Du Plessis was previously chairman at SABMiller Plc, where he led negotiations in the brewer's takeover by ABInBev. He also held the role at mining giant Rio Tinto Group Plc, where he appointed a new CEO, and British American Tobacco Plc.

BT's share price has fallen more than 50% under du Plessis's tenure. The company suspended its dividend for 18 months last year as the coronavirus pandemic hit its sales and it sought to conserve cash for network upgrades. It's also weathered competition and regulation that eroded profits, a post-Brexit selloff in British stocks, and has been forced to strip out key supplier Huawei Technologies Co. from its new 5G networks.

BT has had a tumultuous relationship with regulators, but du Plessis said in the statement that mending it had been the biggest item of progress during his tenure. The U.K. is expected to present a key review on wholesale telecom prices in the next month.

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