A spokeswoman for HoF confirmed that the board “has been informed of Nigel Oddy’s intention to leave the business in the new year to pursue new opportunities”.

She added: “Nigel will remain with the business until such time as a new CEO is appointed and to ensure a smooth transition process.”

Oddy started his career on the Marks Spencer young management scheme in 1978 and worked in various roles there for 23 years, including establishing the retailer’s first direct sourcing office in the Far East.

In 2006, he was approached by John King, then the chief executive of HoF, who had been Oddy’s first ever supplier at MS. Oddy joined HoF as executive director of homeware in 2007 and was promoted to chief operating officer in 2013. He replaced King at the helm in February 2015.

HoF was acquired by Nanjing Cenbest, a subsidiary of China’s Sanpower Group, in 2014 and is set to open its first Chinese store in Nanjing next month. Don McCarthy stood down as executive chairman of HoF on the day the deal completed.

In September of this year, the firm revealed that underlying profits fell 49% to £5m for the six months to the end of July, while underlying sales rose 0.9% to £573.5m.

The spokeswoman said: “House of Fraser continues to trade in line with management expectations and is confident it is well positioned for Christmas, with trading over the Black Friday period to date already showing improvement on last year.”

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  tech News, Technology News