Chairman to run the business until new chief executive is appointed, while board is bolstered.
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Robert Dyas chief executive Steven Round has left the business as the retailer seeks a chief executive to lead its growth.
The hardware and homewares chain’s non-executive chairman Geoff Brady will temporarily assume the role of executive chairman until a new chief executive is recruited.
The retailer said Brady’s interim role would “ensure a smooth transition to the next exciting phase of the company’s development”.
It added: “The business is entering a period of considerable regrowth and it was felt that the business needs a chief executive with a different skillset.”
It is not known if Round, who left last week, has a job to go to.
Robert Dyas said in a statement: “The board would like to thank Steven for his work over the last three years, stabilising the business in a difficult economic climate, improving many aspects of [the] company. The board wishes Steven the very best for the future.”
The retailer said that it had strengthened the board with the appointment of director of retail operations Bea Pearson to the main board with immediate effect.
Round joined the retailer in May 2008 and under his stewardship the chain bounced back in to the black in the year to March 27, when Robert Dyas notched up a pre-tax profit of £2.7m, from a £10.4m loss the previous year after a series of one-off costs. The retailer has not provided any current trading update.
Along with then chairman Ian Gray, Round led a management buyout of the business in 2009, before overseeing a life-saving debt-for-equity swap later in the year, with lenders Lloyds TSB and Allied Irish.
Round also launched a new store format and rebranding of the business to widen its appeal.
Round’s career takes in Kingfisher and MFI. He prepared MFI’s French business, Hygena Cuisines, for sale - it fetched £92m, double City expectations - then transformed the UK retail arm ahead of its sale to Merchant Equity in 2006.
Retail Week Knowledge Bank director Robert Clark said: “Presumably the task is to take Robert Dyas forward on an even keel. It now needs a steady hand to take it forward, under a mainstream retailer rather than a turnaround specialist.”
