Woolworths has made 450 head office and support staff redundant in London and Rochdale. The job losses are the first since the high street giant slumped into administration two weeks ago.

Diana Houghton has joined Thorntons' board of directors as a non-executive director. She is a corporate development and strategy specialist who has worked on a consultancy basis for companies including Fortune Brand, the Rank Group and Scottish Power.

Tim Lodge has been promoted to the role of group finance director at Tate & Lyle. He was previously acting group finance director and director of investor relations and has worked for the company for more than 20 years.

Peter Blatch has joined Stock Spirits Group as travel retail director to spearhead the branded spirits producer's expansion across Central and Eastern Europe. He spent 16 years at airport retailer The Naunce Group as European category manager for liquor, tobacco and food and was most recently interim head of category at Alpha Retail.

Ian Davidson will be stepping down as marketing director of Landmark Wholesale at the end of the year for personal reasons.

Jim Fennell has been appointed chairman of the Irish Marine Institute, the national agency responsible for marine research technology development. Fennell is financial controller and secretary to the governing body of Galway Mayo Institute of Technology.

Simon Bell has joined Mediterranean food importer Donatantonio as CEO. He joins from Leathams where he was retail director.

The Village Bakery has created 10 new jobs at its North Wales bakery to cope with increased international demand for its new range of gluten-free bread. It has added a second shift at the Wrexham site, to increase production of the Scandinavian 'Toasty' range.

Logistics company Norish has appointed John Fairfax as site manager for its Gillingham cold store depot. He has previously worked for Eddie Stobart Chilled and the Yearsley Group in business development roles.