Gerry Murphy to leave Kingfisher

His departure from the DIY group, which owns B&Q in the UK, was announced following a discussion with the board. It will now begin the search for a successor.

Murphy will leave a mixed legacy. His appointment was originally seen as a precursor to a likely sale of Kingfisher to potential buyer US chain Home Depot, but in the event no deal materialised. Despite spearheading Kingfisher's international expansion and most recently its Do It For Me strategy, the group's performance has remained lacklustre.

In the first six months of the financial year, the retailer posted adjusted interim profits up 6.2 per cent to£189.6 million on sales up almost 11 per cent to£4.77 billion. Like-for-likes rose 4.3 per cent across the group.

UK sales rose 4.8 per cent – 2 per cent like for like – to£2.1 billion. Retail profit fell nearly£5 million to£77.8 million, but the retailer bore£15.8 million additional costs because of its store revamp programme.

Kingfisher chairman Peter Jackson said Murphy has “transformed Kingfisher into an integrated and successful international home improvement retailer with strong management and a clear direction”.

He added: “The board believes there is strong internal succession for the role, but we will take enough time for a thorough external search.”

Panmure Gordon head of research Philip Dorgan said that B&Q chief executive Ian Cheshire was the likely successor. "Given the shrinking of the company’s profits, the current board structure has looked top heavy for quite some time, so this news is not a surprise," he said.

Kingfisher will issue its third-quarter trading update covering the 13 weeks to November 3 on November 29.

The retailer has warned of a tough second half in the UK, but insisted its international presence and buying scale will enable continued growth.