Clothing and home furnishings retailer Laura Ashley has called on two chief executives to revive its fortunes after annual losses hit £14 million.
The dual roles have been created after current boss Kwan Cheong Ng told the board he wanted to step down after four years in the top job.
Ainum Mohd-Saaid, the former attorney general in Malaysia, and Rebecca Navarednam, ex-chief financial officer at steel giant Corus, will take over next month.
The changes follow a traumatic year in which problems with the company's mainland Europe business have offset progress in UK home furnishings.
Plans are under way to dispose of many of the company's European stores.
The difficulties were highlighted by latest trading figures showing like-for-like sales down one per cent in the UK and by 27 per cent on the continent in the 14 weeks to May 3.
Friday May 9 2003
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