Health and beauty giant Superdrug has announced that internal candidate Jeremy Seigal will replace outgoing chief executive Euan Sutherland with immediate effect.

The promotion of Seigal, who was managing director of parent AS Watson’s The Perfume Shop, comes just four days after the announcement that Sutherland is stepping down to head the UK operations at DIY giant Kingfisher (RW Online, April 2).

As chief executive of Superdrug parent AS Watson UK, Seigal will also take on responsibility for retail brands The Perfume Shop and Savers.

Sutherland is leaving Superdrug after just four years into a five-year plan to take on the might of Boots and Tesco.

The retail group is also expected to unveil a replacement finance director to succeed Neil Page, who resigned after 17 years’ service at the company, in the coming weeks.

Seigal’s career started at The Boston Consulting Group, before he moved into retail at the Burton Group in 1986. He moved to the Merchant Retail Group in 1991, where he co-founded The Perfume Shop, which has since become AS Watson’s best-performing retail business.

AS Watson parent Hutchison Whampoa posted a revenue rise of 11 per cent in its retail division to HK$110.01 billion (£7.13 billion) for the year to December 31, but said the “improved results were partially offset by lower results from the health and beauty businesses in the UK”.

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