Black & Decker UK axes top role in shake-up

The role of general manager for Black & Decker UK has been axed as part of a broader restructure at the American DIY company.

The move follows the departure of Richard Sanderson, former general manager for the UK.

The responsibilities of general manager will now fall to vice president and general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa David Montgomery, who already handles all consumer product sales and marketing for Europe.

Montgomery says: “What we’ve done is to improve efficiencies. Before the business was very much along the lines of one general manager in each country. We will retain the sales and marketing operation, however, there will be a central marketing function to support local operations.”

Montgomery stresses that there will be no redundancies in the sales and marketing departments.

The DIY company is restructuring its business as two independent “strategic business units”, one based on consumer products, which includes DIY power tools and household appliances, and the other on professional products.

Sanderson left Black & Decker in July to join American toy and games giant Mattel as vice-president and managing director for the UK and Ireland.

Last year, Black & Decker spent about 1.3m on advertising in the UK.

The company uses McCann- Erickson for its creative advertising and Universal McCann for media buying across Europe.