Associated British Foods has announced that Eoin Tonge will be the next finance director of the company. He will succeed John Bason, who is stepping down from the ABF Board. Tonge will join the business, which employs 128,000 people in 53 countries, by February next year.

Tonge joined M&S as chief financial officer in 2020. Prior to that, he was chief financial officer of Irish food company Greencore Group plc from 2016 to 2020, having been managing director of Greencore’s grocery division and chief strategy officer. From 1994 to 2006, he worked at Goldman Sachs in London, Hong Kong and New York.

George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Eoin to ABF. His extensive knowledge and experience of both retail and food industries along with his energy and broad understanding of business make him an ideal successor to John as finance director. I am confident he will make a strong contribution to the senior management team and to the business.”