Kingfisher brings in former Carrefour executive to lead French unit
Alain Rabec takes over struggling business that includes Castorama and Brio Dépôt
Kingfisher, the UK home improvements group, said on Friday it will bring in Alain Rabec, a former executive at the hypermarkets unit of Carrefour, to head up its struggling French operations as the incoming group chief executive seeks to make his mark.
The appointment of Mr Rabec, who begins on Tuesday as chief executive of Kingfisher France, comes two days after Thierry Garnier took over the role of group chief executive from Véronique Laury.
The do-it-yourself retailer has struggled particularly in France, after the UK its biggest market, where last week it reported a 12.2 per cent fall in retail profit, in the six months to July 31. Like-for-like sales, which Kingfisher termed as “volatile”, fell 4.4 per cent to £2.2bn. Its French unit Castorama, which will be under Mr Rabec’s stewardship, was hit in the six month period by logistics and stock inefficiencies, the group said on September 18.
Mr Rabec will be responsible for 200 stores, 20,000 employees and £4bn of sales. In December he left Carrefour where he had spent many years in senior roles, most recently as executive director of Carrefour Hypermarkets, Kingfisher’s statement said on Friday. There he handled 230 stores and €17bn in sales.
Before that role, he had been in charge of reorganising Carrefour’s supermarket business, including a shake-up of its product offer and he introduced a loyalty scheme.
“He is one of the most experienced and respected retailers in France and will bring a wealth of deep operational experience to Kingfisher,” said Kingfisher chief executive Mr Garnier. “His knowledge of the French retail market is second to none.”
Mr Rabec’s LinkedIn entry states he had led Carrefour’s hypermarket unit since June 2016 and after his departure in December became a retail consultant based in Rennes.
“Castorama and Brico Dépôt are businesses with great potential and many growth opportunities ahead in an attractive market,” said Mr Rabec, who takes over from Christian Mazauric, who has taken time out to recover from an operation.
Fierce competition in France from privately owned Adeo, which owns brands such as Leroy Merlin, particularly hit Brio Dépôt in the first three months of the fiscal year but also hurt Castorama.
Shares in the FTSE 100-listed group rose 2.4 per cent on Friday in London.