Carpetright PLC (LON:CPR) chief financial officer Neil Page is stepping down this month after 10 years in the role.
Page will be replaced by Jeremy Simpson, who was most recently the CFO of Sureserve Group PLC, previously called Lakehouse.
READ: Carpetright losses widen but shares soar as it says turnaround plan on track
His departure comes as Carpetright undergoes a turnaround plan after agreeing to a company voluntary arrangement– an insolvency process that allows a struggling business to close stores and negotiate lower rents on remaining stores – with creditors and landlords last year.
Like many other bricks and mortar retailers, Carpetright sales have been hurt by online competition and weak consumer confidence.
Trading in line with expectations
Alongside the announcement of Page’s resignation, Carpetright said its trading in the 13 weeks to January 26 was in line with expectations.
UK like-for-like sales “remained negative” in the period but improved from the 19% decline in the first half.
Trading the rest of Europe division was ahead of the same period a year ago, boosted by strong performance in the Netherlands.
Carpetright said it remains on track to achieve £19mln of cash savings as part of its recapitalisation announced last May.
Carpetright has raised £15mln though a loan from its largest shareholder Meditor Capital Management – which owns a 29.99% stake in the business – and a further £60mln through a share placing.
READ: Carpetright makes hard floors central to recovery after £60mln share raise
The funds will be used to implement the company’s survival plan, which includes the closure of 92 stores and the refurbishment of others.
In morning trading, shares fell 1.5% to 20.98p.
Peel Hunt expects like-for-like sales to turn positive
Peel Hunt repeated a 'buy' rating and target price of 70p.
"The key message from Carpetright’s Q3 update is that performance remains in keeping with market expectations," the broker said.
"Sales transfers from closed stores are on track, the cost savings initiatives have been deployed to hit the annualised £19m target and overall trading, while volatile, is also in keeping with expectations
"The final quarter will see Carpetright trade against prior year disruption, a point after which we would expect LFL sales to turn positive."