Dunelm's family owner steps back

William Adderley, 37-year-old chief executive and son of the founders of Dunelm, the low-cost households chain, is moving aside after 15 years in charge to be replaced by Halfords finance director Nick Wharton.

Adderley, whose family stills owns 35% of Dunelm, becomes deputy chairman and will concentrate more on purchasing and promotions rather than day-to-day dealing with the City and management.

Wharton, 44, was hailed by analysts as a strong successor, having been a strong candidate to become Halfords chief executive when David Wild two years ago.

Adderley was paid £326,000 last year while Wharton was on a basic salary of £300,000 but took home £555,000 including his bonus. But along with his parents, who formed Dunelm on a market stall in Leicester in 1984, Adderley will collect a £5.6 million dividend this year on their shareholding.

Dunelm's profits shot up 46% to £76.8 million on sales up 18% at £493 million in the year to July 3. The dividend for the full year rises from 6p to 8p.

Adderley said: "While we are clearly operating in challenging economic conditions, and we expect to see continuing pressure on consumer spending, performance in the early weeks of our new financial year has been pleasing."

He said Dunelm had continued to pick up market share over the past year as more consumers looked for bargains in the furnishing and homeware markets.

Wharton has been a non-executive director of Dunelm for the past year, and before Halfords was a senior manager within Boots, notably running its early opticians business.