Costcutter has made its first significant board changes since selling a controlling 51% stake in the business to Bibby Line Group in September.

The group has promoted IT director Kevin Widdrington and sales director Jamie Davison to its main board. Former sales and development director David Thompson has also been given the new role of commercial and development director.

Trading and marketing director Angela Barber said Costcutter wanted to strengthen its team in order to deliver future growth. The roles of Barber, MD Nick Ivel and chairman Colin Graves remain unchanged.

Widdrington, who joined Costcutter in 1999, will take total responsibility for the group's IT functions at head office and store level.

He will oversee the continued development of Costcutter's Epos system, which has been installed in 320 stores and is set to be rolled out to 150 more in the next couple of months.

Costcutter is also planning to trial self-service tills, contactless payment technology and in-store TV over the course of next year. It will also launch mycostcutter - an online portal that will give retailers instant access to their invoices, news, email and central pricing information.

Davison, who has been with Costcutter since 1994 in a number of sales roles, has assumed responsibility for the field sales team, maintaining 1,500 Costcutter stores throughout the UK. He will also take charge of recruitment to attract new retail members.

Thompson will be managing Costcutter's 124-strong company-owned store division as well as liaising with retailers and Costcutter staff to develop the brand and overseeing plans for new stores and refurbishments.

The number of board members has increased to eight - six from Costcutter and two from Bibby.

"Myself and the other board members are delighted to welcome Jamie and Kevin on to the board. We are confident they will make a positive contribution to the growth of Costcutter," said Graves.

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