Former Camelot director resurfaces at MBL

Supermarket group Musgrave, Budgens and Londis (MBL) has appointed former Camelot Group commercial and operations director Phil Smith as chief executive.

7pm

The supermarket group Musgrave, Budgens and Londis(MBL) has appointed former Camelot Group commercial and operations director Phil Smith as chief executive.

Smith has been on gardening leave since leaving the lottery group in February by mutual agreement. He left shortly after the group submitted its bid to run the National Lottery licence between 2009 and 2019.

The appointment comes after a year in which three key executives quit MBL. In May finance director Aidan Dunlea left the group. Last year the company also lost managing director Mike Taylor and marketing director Stephanie Price.

Londis is the largest collective of independent retailers in the UK. It became part of the Irish-based Musgrave Group in 2004 and now has more than 2,100 members trading under the name. Early this month Musgrave announced it plans to open a further 70 convenience stores under the Londis fascia this year.

The Musgrave group recently reported profits rose by 14.2% to £55.3m.