Peter Høgsted

Occupying one of the UK’s biggest furniture jobs as Ikea’s UK boss, the charismatic Peter Høgsted presided over a stable retailer where sales continued to grow and market share was never threatened.

But in September last year he jumped out of his comfort zone and joined Kingfisher as its international boss, taking on the unenviable task of revitalising Kingfisher’s beleaguered Chinese arm. In April, Høgsted’s boss Ian Cheshire said China is the “most urgent piece of work we have today” as he revealed losses of £52m in the year to January 31 and a sales decline of 24 per cent.

Høgsted has said he is well used to hanging around in airports after his time at Ikea looking after international markets. It’s a good job too, for now he is darting between Kingfisher’s territories of Poland, Russia, Italy, Turkey and China. With the global recession in full swing, this may be the biggest test in his career so far.