Laura Ashley’s chief executive may keep a low profile, but her revival of what had become a tired brand has thrust her into the spotlight.

No one would have guessed that it would take a Malaysian woman who has spent more time in insurance than retail - and who speaks English as her second language - to turn around one of the most quintessentially British brands.

But in her five years at home furnishings and fashion retailer Laura Ashley, Lillian Tan has restored profitability and steadied the ship after a stormy period that saw 10 chief executives come and go in 14 years.

A darling of the high street in the 1970s and 1980s, Laura Ashley had started to look a bit tired and observers said it had lost its sparkle. The business needed a strong operator to come in and reenergise it.

Tan has done that, as the figures show. Under her watch, the business has gone from making a pre-tax loss of £14.1m in 2003, to a pre-tax profit of £11m in the year to January 30.

The publicity-shy retailer, who has rarely been photographed, likes to concentrate on the task at hand, according to one person who knows her.

“She is extremely private and very low profile,” a friend says. “There are lots of big characters in UK retail so in a way Lillian stands out from the pack for maintaining a low profile. She is one of the hardest working chief executives I know, and dedicated to her job and to Laura Ashley.”

Tan spends most weekends trawling stores, but the friend says she can relax too. “She can be good fun to be with because she has a joke at your expense. She is very kind, but that’s not to say she is not tough.”

Verdict lead retail analyst Maureen Hinton describes Tan as “polished and very smartly dressed”. She adds: “Lillian is formal but friendly and approachable. She has got a very good handle on the business and is very passionate about it. She looks at the business strategically. Laura Ashley’s clothing looks so much better than it has done for ages.”

The 55-year-old started her retail career at Malaysian department store Metrojaya, one of the country’s largest retailers, in 2002, where she was chief executive. She left in 2004 before joining Laura Ashley in the same role in 2005, having already spent a year at the retailer as a non-executive director. She is still a director of Metrojaya and is on the board of UK business Vista Hotels.

But her roots do not lie in retail.

In 1977, after completing a masters degree in business administration in Australia, Tan went into insurance and stayed in the industry until 2000, working her way up to chief executive of MUI Continental Insurance. From there she was appointed managing director of the management services division of the MUI Group, which bought a majority stake in Laura Ashley in 1998.

But Tan, who lives in London, seems to have found her calling in retailing, and has helped bring stability to what was once a turbulent business. Last week Tan said Laura Ashley’s revival is down to the strength of the brand and focus on product, which she describes as being “innovative, inspiring and high quality”.

Nick Coulter, analyst at Laura Ashley’s house broker Numis, notes profits had “troughed” in January 2003 and started to “build thereafter”. He puts the improvement down largely to Tan’s focus on realigning the store portfolio to larger formats, selling both home and fashion in combination stores, as well as curtailing some of the promotionally led stance that Laura Ashley had adopted. “The results speak for themselves,” says Coulter. “She has given the business direction.”

Laura Ashley in figures

  • Number of UK stores 231
  • Number of international stores 230 across 26 countries
  • Sales split Furniture 30%; home accessories 28%; decorating 22%; fashion 20%