Castorama head to fill CEO spot at Kingfisher

LONDON — Veronique Laury will succeed Sir Ian Chesire as CEO of Kingfisher at the end of January, The Guardian reports. Laury, who has been with Kingfisher for the past 11 years, is currently head of French subsidiary Castorama. The announcement took analysts by surprise, and Cheshire says it is unrelated to the group’s recently lacklustre performance, which he added was beginning to turn around. “From my point of view, 12 years [as CEO] was not going to be part of my plan,” he said. “There is no particular connection to wider events.”