La Senza chief executive Rose Foster has left the lingerie chain less than two years after being drafted in to spearhead its turnaround.

Foster said: “The role I went there to do is done. It is time for something different.”

She added that director and Dragon’s Den star Theo Paphitis wanted to be more involved with the running of the business.

Paphitis and acting managing director Malcolm Cooke will now take over the day-to-day operations of La Senza. The retailer said it will not be looking for a replacement for Foster “for the foreseeable future”.

Sources told Retail Week that, with Paphitis taking a more active role, there was no longer enough room for both him and Foster.

Since joining La Senza from Monsoon in April 2007, Foster has overseen the rebranding of the retailer and launched a new store concept. She also opened two flagship stores in London, on Oxford Street and in Westfield shopping centre. La Senza now has 180 UK stores, 20 of which were opened in the past year.

A report published by research company Verdict last week revealed that La Senza had an estimated 4.1 per cent market share
of the lingerie sector last year.

In the year to March 29, 2008, La Senza’s profits soared 71.6 per cent to£10.3m, with sales up 20.9 per cent to£118.8m.