UK retailer B&M appoints Asda's Atheeq Akbar as finance chief

June 24 (Reuters) - British discount retailer B&M named Asda executive Atheeq Akbar as its next chief financial officer on Wednesday, with the company pushing ahead with efforts to boost its UK business.

Here are some more details:

• Akbar will join B&M in February 2027, succeeding interim CFO Pete Waterhouse.

• Akbar is currently Asda's vice president of commercial finance.

• B&M CEO Tjeerd Jegen launched a turnaround plan in October in the face of mounting competition from supermarket loyalty programmes and pressure on lower-income household budgets.

• Jegen said: "(Akbar's) strong commercial background in UK retail will be a great asset as we bring about change to deepen the financial foundations of our business".

• Akbar has previously held senior roles at Morrisons, Tesco, and Etihad Airways.

• B&M early in June beat annual pretax profit expectations as its turnaround gathered pace, and said it was confident of managing higher costs linked to the Iran war.

(Reporting by Neeshita Beura in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)