Kingfisher appoints Carrefour Asia boss Garnier as new CEO

B&Q and Castorama owner Kingfisher has appointed Thierry Garnier - the chief executive officer of Carrefour Asia - as its new CEO.

Garnier, whose start date is yet to be finalised, will take over from Veronique Laury and join the company in the autumn.

Garnier spent 20 years in senior roles at French retailer Carrefour and is currently the CEO of its Asia business, where he is responsible for more than 350 stores in China and Taiwan.

From 2003 to 2008, he was the managing director of supermarkets for Carrefour France, where he successfully rebranded the Champion supermarket format to the Carrefour Market fascia. This format was rolled out to 1,000 supermarkets in France, with sales of approximately €13bn.

Kingfisher chairman Andy Cosslett said: "On behalf of the board, I am delighted to welcome Thierry to Kingfisher. He is a highly talented international retailer and proven business leader, with a strong track record over many years at Carrefour. Throughout his career he has led significant businesses through complex change programmes while operating in competitive and rapidly changing retail environments.

"In what was a rigorous recruitment process, Thierry stood out for the board from a strong list of candidates due to his recognised operational know-how at a multi-national retail business, his delivery of long-term value creation, and his experience in driving leading edge digital innovation, most recently in China."

At 0910 BST, the shares were up 2.7% at 211.30p.

Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Markets.com, said: "Removing management uncertainty may offer a modicum of support to shares in the near term but ultimately investors will want to see what new, if any, strategic direction the new CEO is planning. There should be scope for new management to drive change and carry out disposals that are necessary to make this a leaner business. Splitting up the business into smaller parts is an option.

"The entire ONE sourcing strategy was suspect from the off given that, for instance, the fittings and fixtures in Poland and Germany are not necessarily the same that are needed in France or the UK. Unification of the supply chain and joint sourcing has been the cornerstone of the Kingfisher turnaround strategy but has not delivered. Will there be an overhaul or will Garnier press on?"

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the fact that Garnier doesn't have a background in the DIY sector might bring some fresh thinking to Kingfisher.

"And the business needs all the help it can get given how profits have been falling of late," he said.

"It’s fortunate that Garnier has a degree in engineering. He will need to be good with a screwdriver to take apart the bits of Kingfisher’s recovery plan that haven’t worked and to tighten up the best bits of the business.

"Don’t expect a radical reshaping of Kingfisher any time soon though. Garnier will need to spend time trying to understand its problems and coming up with a solution. Given how the previous CEO couldn’t get it right, Garnier will need to be a genius at his trade otherwise Kingfisher could be singing the same old song."