Iceland has found a replacement for departing chief executive Stuart Rose in record time with the appointment of Wickes boss Bill Grimsey. But the company is still searching for a replacement for Booker chief Charles Wilson, who announced he would leave in March to join Stuart Rose at Arcadia. Malcolm Walker, who assumed the additional role of chief executive following Rose's departure, will revert to chairman. Prior to Rose's departure Walker had been planning to become part-time non executive chairman, but he said he would remain full-time to support Grimsey while he took over the business. "We make a great team," said Grimsey, who starts on January 2. "Malcolm is an entrepreneur par excellence whereas I'm more of a corporate man at my best in food and multiple retailing." The City warmed to the news, with Grimsey's strong background in the food sector working in his favour. Having carved out his career at Budgens, Tesco and Hong Kong chain Park & Shop, Grimsey is "delighted" to return to the food sector: "I can't tell you how happy I am to return to my roots." Asked how he will deliver his promise to "drive top line growth at Booker," he said he intends to "release the energy inside the business" although it was too early to say how he would achieve this. "I haven't got a magic wand," he admitted. "And it's no secret the cash & carry sector is subject to tight cost controls. But there hasn't been enough emphasis on what will drive sales." His first task will be to "nail down" the synergies promised after the merger. "Let's just say, with the recent management changes, the emphasis on extracting synergies has not been as great as it could have been." But Grimsey admitted there would be limits to the amount of revenue synergies possible through cross pollination of Iceland and Booker brands, because the customer bases of the different parts of the group were very different and "brands need protection". {{NEWS }}

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