Sir Ian Cheshire is to step down as group chief executive of retail company Kingfisher.
He will step down from the firm – which has hundreds of shops across the UK and Europe with brands including B&Q and Screwfix – by the end of the financial year, and retire from the board on 31 January 2015.
Cheshire will be succeeded by Véronique Laury, chief executive of Kingfisher’s Castorama France.
Cheshire has served 16 years in the business.
Daniel Bernard, Kingfisher chairman, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Sir Ian. He has transformed Kingfisher into a stronger business with a bright future during a difficult economic time.”
The announcement came as the company posted a underlying pretax profit of £364m for the six months to 2 August.
joanna.bourke@estatesgazette.com
