The chief executive officer of Kingfisher retailer B&Q Michael Loeve will be stepping down from his role after two years.

He will reportedly remain in his position at B&Q for the next few weeks as a replacement is sought. Meanwhile, chief sales and retail operations officer at Kingfisher Jean-Paul Constant will take on some of Mr Loeve's workload and responsibilities in the weeks leading up to his departure.Mr Loeve has been running B&Q since 2015 and has decided to take a step back for “family reasons.” It is thought he will be returning to his home country of Denmark.

Mr Constant said: “We’d like to thank Michael for his energy, enthusiasm and leadership of B&Q, and for the key role he has played in the One Kingfisher transformation plan.”

It has since been revealed that Mr Loeve will take up the position of senior vice president at Netto International, a Danish supermarket with stores in Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland. It's a return to food retailing for Mr Loeve, who was previously the head of the Danish Co-op before joining B&Q. 

Per Bank, the chief executive of Netto's owner Dansk Supermarked, said: "Michael’s track record speaks for itself. With the further experience, he has gained in recent years in the UK, I have no doubt that he is the right person to fulfil our ambitions for Netto across the countries.

“In addition, he is a modern leader and a thoroughly decent person characterized by sound values, all in keeping with how we want Dansk Supermarked to be as a company.”