UK auto dealer Lookers names retail veteran Mark Raban as CEO

(Reuters) - British car dealership Lookers <LOOK.L> named Chief Financial Officer Mark Raban to the top job on Wednesday and Cameron Wade to the role of chief operating officer, filling positions which had been vacant since a profit warning last year.

In November, Lookers' chief executive and operating chief departed after it sounded a second profit warning in just a span of a few months as the British car market struggled with dwindling consumer demand and margin pressures.

Retail veteran Raban joined the London-listed company in July as its chief financial offer from previous stints at Marshall Motor Holdings Plc <MMHM.L> and Inchcape Plc's <INCH.L> retail business.

Wade, on the other hand, has been with the Lookers for about four years and was the company's franchise director at its Audi division.

A search for a new finance chief will start shortly, the company said.

In a separate statement, Lookers said it expects profit for the year to be in line with expectations even as fourth-quarter trading was as challenging as expected.

The seller of new and used vehicles made by multiple manufacturers had seen its shares tumble more than 40% in 2019.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Bernard Orr)