Kingfisher puts Euan Sutherland in charge of group sourcing

B&Q chief executive Euan Sutherland will add group sourcing to his responsibilities. He takes up the mantle from international chief executive Peter Hogsted, who is also responsible for innovation and own-label development.

A Kingfisher spokesman said it made sense to bring sourcing closer to B&Q, as the biggest single business within the group.

Increased group sourcing is one of the seven steps identified by Kingfisher to create improved value for shareholders. The retailer intends to increase direct sourcing from $794m last year to $1.6bn.

Kingfisher group chief executive Ian Cheshire said: “We have made great progress on group sourcing and it will be one of the key drivers of growth.

“It therefore makes sense for us to put more management resource behind it as we embark on the next phase of our ‘delivering value’ strategy.”

Sutherland’s new responsibilities led to newspaper speculation that he was being lined up to succeed Cheshire as group supremo but a Kingfisher source said: “Ian Cheshire was only appointed group chief executive in 2008, so it’s a bit early to be talking about succession.

“Kingfisher has a strong management team with a number of high calibre individuals and these changes are focused solely on growing direct sourcing.”