Experienced retailer gets on his bike to join Halfords

Halfords has appointed experienced retailer Graham Stapleton as its chief executive, replacing Marks & Spencer-bound Jill McDonald.

Stapleton will move from Dixons Carphone, where he has worked for 12 years, having originally joined Carphone Warehouse as a divisional managing director. He was appointed to his current role as chief executive of the group’s software business Honeybee in April.

McDonald will now leave the Redditch-based retailer at the end of next week, with chief financial officer Jonny Mason stepping up in the short-term until Stapleton’s arrival in mid-January.

Graham Stapleton

Halfords chairman Dennis Millard said: “Graham is an outstanding business leader with the retail, digital, services and category credentials that are an ideal fit for his role as CEO of Halfords.

“We set out our ‘Moving up a Gear’ strategy just under two years ago and Graham will continue to drive its implementation and pursue our service-led, growth strategy.”

Stapleton has previously worked at Marks & Spencer, B&Q and Kingfisher in senior leadership roles.

He will join a business that last year made £75m profits on revenues of £1.1bn. Although Halford’s share price has fallen nearly 20% since Ms McDonald’s resignation in May, last night’s closing price of 311p values the retailer at more than £600m.

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