The plummeting fortunes of Somerfield's Kwik Save arm have claimed two more board room victims. Simon Hughes, who only took over as md of Kwik Save in April, and the group's high profile buying and supply chain director Ed Connolly both left the company as it announced three top level recruits. Their departure came less than a month after Somerfield reported disastrous annual results with like for like sales at Kwik Save down nearly 15%. Hughes will be replaced by Graham Maguire, currently group retail director of T&S Stores, who is expected to take up his appointment in October. Stephen Barnett, currently managing director of Procter & Gamble's petfood business IAMS, has been appointed group marketing director. Bill Williams, an executive board retail director of Sainsbury and Homebase and non executive director Sainsbury's Bank, will join Somerfield as operations director on August 29. Somerfield chief executive Alan Smith said: "I am delighted to announce these new appointments and I know that the new appointees will bring with them the energy, skills and experience needed to help turn around and then grow the Somerfield and Kwik Save business." Analysts said the new appointments were a move in the right direction. Dave Stoddart of Investec Henderson Crosthwaite commented: "In the David Simons era so many senior retail people were gunned down it left a vacuum at the top. "Getting in people with solid retail backgrounds like Graham Maguire and Bill Williams makes sense. They should be able to deliver. But that still leaves the question ­ what is the retail strategy?" {{NEWS }}

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