By Deborah Jackson, editor National Liquor News
Allen De Costa has resigned from his position as CEO of Independent Liquor Group (ILG), effective as of 28 February 2017. De Costa has been with ILG since 2012 and has been instrumental in turning the company's fortunes around.
Neville Blair, the Chairman of ILG said that the ILG Board accepted De Costa's resignation with regret.
“We have an experienced senior executive team who will manage the business whilst the Board undertakes the recruitment process of appointing a new CEO. The Board is in negotiations with several recruitment companies to undertake this task.
“The ILG Board accepted Allen’s resignation with regret and we thank him for his contribution over the last five years, four of which have been as CEO, to the growth and strength of ILG and, in turn, the strength of each member’s independent liquor business. Allen has told me he will miss the friendships made and the loyalty given but that he will not miss the travel or living away from his family.”
It is understood that De Costa will take this time off to focus on his retail stores and to spend quality time with his family.
Earlier this year De Costa announced increased sales and record profits for ILG.
“We grew the business by $48m or 15 per cent but what was actually great is that bottom line profit grew by 30 per cent or about $3.6m,” De Costa said at the time.
According to Blair, De Costa has been a driving force behing improving ILG performance metrics.
“Allen has been very successful in communicating the ILG value proposition to more and more business owners and improving ILG performance metrics. This is most recently highlighted by the 15 per cent increase in revenue in 2016 which built on strong growth increases in earlier years.”
De Costa will stay on to assist with a seamless leadership transition over the coming weeks.
TheShout has also learned that Queensland Field Manager Stephen Dawson is also no longer with the ILG business, but this is unrelated to De Costa's resignation.