Palmer & Harvey has made a raft of managerial appointments as it looks to capitalise on the growth of its Mace symbol group and sign up more retailers to its recently relaunched SuperShop fascia.

It has recruited Ray Hayes, who previously worked for Jordans Ryvita and SSL International as general sales manager, to handle new business.

Hayes has been joined by Terry Murphy, who has been appointed sales development controller. Murphy most recently worked for Danish construction firm Ramboll, where he held the post of learning and development manager and was responsible for transforming its UK arm.

Prior to Ramboll, Murphy worked for Diageo for 18 years. At P&H, he will create a retail sales training programme.

P&H has also recruited five regional managers. Chris Bowles has joined as retail sales manager for the South West and Mike Hogg for the South East. James Roydhouse has been appointed symbol sales manager for the East, Keith Trail for the West Midlands and Barry Wright for the North.

“We want P&H symbol fascias to continue to expand, and to do this we need the best talent there is,” said retail sales director Mike Park. “There’s no doubt that Mace and SuperShop continue to go from strength to strength as we drive forward our retail independents’ business.”

Last year, the number of Mace stores grew by 20%. In December, P&H also relaunched its SuperShop fascia in a bid to win over more newsagents.

At the time, P&H said it hoped to swell the number of SuperShop retailers from 88 to 300 by the end of 2012. The wholesaler currently delivers to 840 retailers across its symbol estate, which includes Your Store in Northern Ireland.