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• Outdoors specialist Blacks brings in head of online lingerie site
• Comet commercial director moves into top job at electrical firm
Struggling outdoors specialist Blacks Leisure will announce that it has poached the chief executive of online lingerie specialist Figleaves.com to lead its turnaround.
Julia Reynolds, a former Tesco executive, is expected to be named as the Millets-owner's new chief executive, following a search kicked off in February when the company said Neil Gillis would step down in the summer. The news came during a day of revolving doors at the top of British retail groups, as Comet boss Hugh Harvey also appeared to get the chop ahead of parent Kesa Electricals' year-end trading update on 11 May.
Analysts said Reynolds' job would be tough, given the competitive pressures facing Blacks. "If I were sitting in an online business at the moment, I am trying to imagine why I would want to go back to high street retailing, which is structurally challenged," said David Stoddart at FinnCap.
Stoddart said that Millets was facing competition from Tesco and other supermarkets, while Blacks, at the upper end of the market, had to deal with increasing competition from Field & Trek, Cotswold and other outdoors retailers.
Blacks also faces a challenge in developing its online presence, Stoddart said, and he suggested that Reynolds' arrival could be part of a concerted push to be announced along with Blacks' latest figures.
Commercial director to replace Hugh Harvey at Comet
Comet put out a short statement in relation to Harvey's departure, saying only that he had "left the business to pursue interests outside the group".
It was not clear whether he had voluntarily stepped down or been pushed. Analysts, with first quarter figures out on 11 May, took the news as a sign that trading had worsened at the electricals retailer.
"It's possible that he jumped, because he is running a business with no investment and earmarked for disposal. But it can't be a coincidence that the Q1 trading update is next week. Trading last week was probably terrible," said Nick Bubb at Arden Partners.
He added that it looked as if Harvey was "a bit of human sacrifice" ahead of the first quarter reports.
Bob Darke, Comet's commercial director, has taken over the managing director's role. Bubb suggested his appointment gave nothing away as to the group's strategy: "He is the obvious internal candidate."
In its statement Comet said its priorities were strengthening its differentiation, adapting its product mix, growing its cross-channel online business and reshaping its store portfolio.
"Successful delivery of these initiatives as well as a sharp commercial focus and tight management of costs will improve [the trading] position and ability to compete in the tough marketplace in 2011 and beyond," Comet said.
Recent months have been particularly bad for retailers of electronic goods. Both Kesa and Dixons have put out profits warnings this year.
Kesa said in January that Comet would make a loss this year, sending shares in the group down nearly 10%.
Dixons said at the end of March that government cuts were hitting consumers' discretionary spending, with sales of tablet computers like iPads a rare bright spot in the market.
Shares in Kesa have lost about 20% of their value since the start of the year, and the group has attracted the interest of shareholder activist group Knight Vinke, which now owns a 14% stake.
The shares finished up 0.5% at 130p on Tuesday following the news of the change at the top of Comet.
Shares in Blacks were down a fraction of a penny, or by 0.3%, to 13.86p.