Kingfisher's France boss replaced, top team reshuffled

LONDON (Reuters) - Kingfisher, Europe's second biggest home improvement retailer, has replaced the boss of its underperforming French business with the leader of its largest British operation.

The firm said on Friday Marc Tenart was stepping down from his role as CEO of Kingfisher in France, where it trades as Castorama and Brico Depot.

Tenart will be succeeded on Oct. 1 by Christian Mazauric, a 17-year Kingfisher veteran and the current CEO of B&Q UK and Ireland.

Last month Kingfisher reported a weak second quarter performance at Castorama and the group's shares have fallen 21 percent so far this year.

The firm said Graham Bell, currently CEO of Kingfisher's Screwfix business, would take over from Mazauric as CEO of B&Q UK and Ireland.

It said John Mewett, the group's digital director, has been appointed CEO of Screwfix, succeeding Bell.

Kingfisher, which across Europe trails France's Groupe Adeo, is in the third year of a five-year plan to boost annual profit by 500 million pounds ($648 million) from 2021.

Costing 800 million pounds the programme involves unifying product ranges across brands, boosting e-commerce and seeking efficiency savings.

Shares in the group were down 1 percent at 1019 GMT.

($1 = 0.7714 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Costas Pitas)