JD Sports to pay former chair Peter Cowgill £5.5mn

UK sportswear retailer JD Sports is to pay former executive chair Peter Cowgill £5.5mn for a consultancy agreement and a restriction on his ability to work with competitors.

Cowgill will receive £3.5mn over two years for a set of “new and enhanced” restrictions that prevent him from “working for or advising any of the company’s competitors, and . . . soliciting any of its employees”.

JD Sports will also pay Cowgill £2mn for a three-year “consultancy agreement”, which will enable the company’s new leaders to gain “continuous support and assistance as they transition in their new roles”.

Cowgill’s tenure as executive chair lasted 18 years. He left the company in May following a review of its governance and controls. He presided over soaring revenue, but his robust personality and no-nonsense approach generated a number of controversies.

“We are pleased to have settled the terms of [Cowgill’s] departure and more importantly, to have secured a seamless handover and access to his decades of experience, whilst best protecting our commercial interests,” said chair Andy Higginson.