Carry on Malcolm. It's still early days for the Iceland/Booker merger, so does Stuart Rose's departure put the odd couple on a shakier footing? John Wood and Elaine Watson report on the challenges ahead for Malcolm Walker Malcolm Walker was taking a crash course in cash and carry management this week, as his plan to "take a back seat" at Iceland backfired badly. When Iceland took over Booker in May, Walker stunned the City by handing the chief executive role to Stuart Rose, announcing that he himself would become non executive chairman once the integration of the two businesses was completed. This week there was another shock in store from this odd pairing. Rose resigned to take the top job at Arcadia. Booker managing director Charles Wilson also handed in his notice to join Rose, although he agreed to stay on until March to help with the management transition. "City feathers have not been too badly ruffled by Rose's departure," said Clive Black at CCF Charterhouse. "Clearly it's disappointing that he left quite so soon, but no one was expecting him to stay forever and a day." After initial scepticism about the merger in the City, Walker and Rose had won many analysts around to their way of thinking. However, many questioned whether Walker would be able to surrender control of his creation. There had been rumours of disagreements. So Rose's departure has not been a complete surprise. The Grocer caught up with Walker at Booker's Wellingborough hq. He said he was confident he understood the cash and carry business. "Iceland is a chain of 760 small shops. There is a lot of empathy with Booker's independent customers. We have a common enemy in Tesco and Asda." And he insisted he had no regrets about the deal saying: "All our experience since the merger has confirmed both the strategic logic of the deal and the scale of the opportunities it presents us. "The cross-business teams are operating as planned, and the outlook for the enlarged group remains positive." He commented: "We are naturally disappointed that Stuart and Charles decided to leave to pursue this new opportunity, but Iceland and Booker have strong management in depth." The exit of Booker md Charles Wilson, is "perhaps more disappointing," added Black, "but Malcolm Walker is so highly regarded within the company, the industry and the City that this shouldn't do any lasting damage". Given Wilson is staying until March in order to ensure the synergy benefits of Booker's merger with Iceland are delivered, investors shouldn't rush to abandon Iceland's stock, said Mike Dennis at Société Generale. He expects Iceland's share price will return to around the 335p mark as investors regain their composure and take note of the fact the business is still on target to deliver the synergies it promised. Assuming the first post merger results published in June are good, and there's no reason to think they won't be, the stock will probably rise again, possibly to 360p, predicted another analyst. While a replacement for Wilson was a priority, Rose's departure could prove a perfect opportunity for Iceland md Russell Ford to increase his responsibilities, Dennis added. In the meantime, Walker has his head down. {{NEWS }}

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