Ekornes Ltd has announced the departure of current UK and Ireland MD Lee Bagnall (left), who joined the company last September. He will be replaced at the beginning of this September by James Tate (right), who worked for Ekornes Ltd previously before moving to Sydney to take up the role of Ekornes Pty MD five years ago.

Lee’s relatively short time with the company has seen it achieve measurable progress. Ekornes Ltd’s Q1 turnover was up 18.3% on the previous year’s, a success that the company’s international marketing director, Svein Lunde, puts down to a well-implemented campaign and marketing strategy which has increased footfall to both dealers and the website – UK web traffic shows an increase of around 50% year on year. Lee departs to pursue an opportunity in retail that, according to Svein, “he found difficult to turn down”.

After delivering good results in the Australia and New Zealand markets, James will move back to the UK with his wife to take up the position in September. “I know that James’ experience and knowledge of the Ekornes business will be a great benefit to our UK business.”