Christo Wiese is leaving the presidency of Steinhoff

BERLIN (Reuters) – The distributor of furnishings Steinhoff, whose share price collapsed after the discovery of accounting irregularities, announced on Thursday the resignation of the chairman of its supervisory board, the magnate of south african Christo Wiese.

In a press release, Steinhoff explains that Christo Wiese has offered his resignation in order to strengthen the independent governance of the group and that the supervisory board has accepted “to avoid any possible conflict of interest”.

His son Jacob Wiese has also resigned from the board.

Heather Sonn, independent director, has agreed to provide the interim chairmanship, adds the group.

Steinhoff, which owns more than 40 brands, or brands across the world, including Conforama, Mattress Firm and Poundland, has seen its Stock price plunge from 84% in three days last week, at 0.35 euro, after the announcement of the resignation of its director-general, of the opening of an investigation into accounting irregularities and the postponement of the publication of the results of 2017.

The title listed on Frankfurt had rebounded in the beginning of the week but it has dropped back to 11.7% Wednesday, and then 13.3% on Thursday, to 0.57 euro, the group indicated that it would be forced to revise its accounts 2016.

(Emma Thomasson, Véronique Tison for the French service)