Toys R Us’ former UK boss Roger McLaughlan has resigned from the retailer a few months after being handed a new role following a European restructure.
McLaughlan joined Toys R Us as UK managing director in late 2011 from Asda and in March was appointed chief merchandise officer of the retailer’s European operation.
A Toys R Us spokesman confirmed McLaughlan “recently” resigned his position and has been replaced by John Declerck, who served as group strategy director at Kingfisher until April 2014 before moving to Cairngorm Capital to become strategic advisor for a year and a half.
Toys R Us revealed it was restructuring the European business on March 18 in order to drive “stronger harmonisation and create greater efficiencies across its business in Europe”.
The shake-up included moving from a decentralised country-by-country leadership structure to a “more centralised pan-European approach”.
The newly created European management board reports to Dr Wolfgang Link, president of Toys R Us Europe.
Link has led the European team since 2013 and chairs a board that alongside the chief merchandise officer position also includes chief operating officer Jacobo Caller, who was previously managing director at Toys R Us Iberia.
Others on the board include chief marketing and ecommerce officer Michael Melzer, who used to be managing director of the toy retailer’s central European operation.
Enrique Gonzalez, previously finance director at Toys R Us Southern Europe, is now serving as chief financial officer.
In the UK the retailer has suffered continued profit drops, which have been attributed to online rivals such as Amazon and supermarkets including Tesco and Asda increasingly encroaching on the toy market.
In its most recently published results, Toys R Us recorded a fourth consecutive annual profit drop in the UK as pre-tax profits for the year ending February 1, 2014 fell 24% to £4.55m.
The toy retailer made a net operating loss of £5.2m during the year, down from an operating profit of £10.78m the year before. In the prior financial year, pre-tax profits fell almost 50% from £11.44m to £5.98m.
Its turnover has also continued to drop, with sales sliding 7% from £461m to £428m year on year. In comparison, its sales were £476m for the year ending January 29, 2012.
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