New restructuring at Laura Ashley

STRUGGLING furnishings and clothing retailer Laura Ashley has restructured middle management roles and reporting lines as it fights to turn around the business.

The reorganisation appears to give new chief executive Lillian Tan a stronger grip on day-to-day operations.

Four departing executives, who are all understood to have left of their own accord, are being replaced. The four are understood to be part of a 35-strong middle management team and include Nicole Pistak, who was head of central and regional operations, Robert Painter, the head of property and shop development, the group financial accountant Paul Mainwaring, and Simon Hudson who was responsible for franchising and licensing.

Chief executive Tan, who took over earlier this year, told staff in a brusque memo that she was making changes to the 'functional structure' of the group to achieve higher efficiency and productivity.

Tan, who is the 11th chief executive at the company in 14 years, is widely seen in the City as needing to update Laura Ashley's brand image. Seen by shoppers and analysts alike as out of date, Laura Ashley has responded by closing plants around the world and selling off retail outlets.

The Laura Ashley factory in Carno, mid-Wales, which the company opened almost 40 years ago in Wales closed in March.

Tan, who was previously a non-executive director and also chief executive of Malaysian retailer Metrojaya Berhad, replaced Ainum Mohd-Saaid in January.

He had followed fellow joint chief executive Rebecca Annapillai, who resigned in November, out the door. Both were appointed as joint chief executives in June 2003, having risen to prominence in Malaysia, where Laura Ashley's biggest shareholder, Malaysian United Industries, is based.

Mohd-Saaid was the country's former attorney-general while Navarednam worked in banking, having previously worked as a finance director in the UK.

Besides Malaysian United, Laura Ashley is 24% owned by Bonham Industries Limited, the private vehicle of chairman Dr Khoo Kay Peng, which gives him some 40% of the overall shares.

City analysts were dismissive of the latest reorganisation. Richard Ratner at Seymour Pierce said he had tired of hearing of 'nights of long knives' at Laura Ashley.

'They're always doing this. Yet another purge and yet another night of the long knives. I've been negative on the company for a long time. It is run as a private company with the outward appearance of a quoted company. We don't take it very seriously, it should be taken off the market because it is effectively run as a subsidiary of MUI.'