Troubled US retailer Kmart said president of the company Julian Day will also take on the additional post of chief executive officer and said the company hopes to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection around April 30.

Day succeeds James Adamson, who will continue to serve as the company's chairman through the final stages of Kmart's reorganization.

Kmart added that it had severed “employment relationships” with all remaining executives who received special retention loans in 2001 under former CEO Charles Conaway's tenure. And added the action was taken as it begins to implement a reorganized management structure in anticipation of its emergence from Chapter 11 reorganization on or about April 30.