People: Retail job moves - who went where in September

That’s certainly the case at the Co-operative Group where Richard Pennycook has belatedly agreed to permanently assume the seat vacated by Euan Sutherland in the chief executive’s office. Having originally distanced himself from the role during his interim tenure, it appears that Pennycook has identified a strategy he believes can deliver the reform the Co-op so desperately needs. But he will require all his diplomacy skills to ensure that everyone is pulling in the same direction given the factions that still exist within the Group.

The Co-op is not the only retailer entering a new era. Over at Dunelm, Will Adderley has been reinstated to the top job having run the homewares retailer for a 15 year period from 1996 to 2011. Currently executive deputy chairman, Adderley is a founding family member of Dunelm and joins at a time when the business is growing rapidly through new store openings. Much of the credit for this must go to outgoing chief executive Nick Wharton who has not only improved the retailer’s logistics operation but also put in place a management structure appropriate for a business of Dunelm’s size. Now the building blocks are in place it is thought that Adderley has been charged with accelerating top line growth.

Kingfisher, meanwhile, has announced that Sir Ian Cheshire is to stand down at the end of the financial year to be replaced by Veronique Laury, currently chief executive of Kingfisher’s French business Castorama. Kingfisher said the decision “recognises that the next phase of Kingfisher’s evolution requires a significant leadership commitment and continuity”, suggesting that the popular and cerebral Cheshire felt he had delivered the step change in performance he set out to achieve on becoming chief executive seven years ago.

With neither Wharton nor Cheshire setting out their future intentions, it means that two top notch business leaders are on the market should any other retailer decide to start afresh this autumn.

Tony Gregg is chief executive of the Anthony Gregg Partnership