Louise Hoste will replace Debbie Robinson, who is leaving Spar to join Central England Co-op. She has previously worked for Walmart in the UK, Canada and Chile and was director of customer offer at the Co-op, where she relaunched the brand across food ranges. She will join the business by October.

Spar reported an 8.5% increase in UK sales to £2.84bn in 2016, its, as new retailer members joined the c-store group.