Holland & Barrett is poised to appoint former Travis Perkins executive Tony Buffin as its new chief executive, Retail Week understands.

The health and beauty retailer plans to name Buffin, who stepped down as Travis Perkins chief operating officer in February following a boardroom restructure, as its new boss tomorrow.

Buffin will succeed Peter Aldis, who had been at the helm of Holland & Barrett for 10 years before stepping down with immediate effect in March.

Group managing director Steve Carson’s role will be unchanged following Buffin’s appointment, while chairman John Walden is expected to resume his non-executive position after he took on executive responsibilities on an interim basis in the wake of Aldis’ departure.

Buffin was appointed chief financial officer of Travis Perkins in 2013 before becoming chief operating officer in 2017. He had previously been spoken of as a potential successor to Veronique Laury as chief executive of DIY giant Kingfisher and as possible successor to David Fischel at the helm of retail property group Intu.

Buffin’s upcoming appointment at the helm of Holland & Barrett follows a slate of appointments by the retailer since it was acquired by investment consortium L1 Retail for £1.8bn in 2017, including former Homebase boss Echo Lu as international managing director, former Sainsbury’s-Argos CTO George Goley and ex-Wilko retail director Anthony Houghton as retail and property director.

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