// Hamleys boss Ralph Cunningham exits & replaced by House of Fraser finance chief Yong Shen
// Questions have been raised about the relation between Hamleys and House of Fraser
// Sanpower chairman Yuan Yafei is brother-in-law of Hamleys owner C.banner chairman
Hamleys chief executive Ralph Cunningham has abruptly resigned, with House of Fraser finance chief Yong Shen named as his replacement.
The resignation takes place five months after the toy retailer’s head of finance Alexander Jablonowski left the company, The Telegraph reports.
Since the departure, further questions have been raised surrounding the link between Hamleys parent company C.banner and House of Fraser’s former owner Sanpower.
Sanpower is currently chaired by Yuan Yafei, who is the brother-in-law of C.banner chairman Chen Yixi.
Last year, Hamleys recorded a loss of £12 million at a pre-tax level in the year to December 31 2017, compared to a profit of £2.6 million in the same period of the previous year.
Meanwhile, Hamleys said UK like-for-like sales improved by 2.7 per cent in 2018.
The heritage retailer attributed the weak performance to tough trading conditions, as well as the failure to come up with a transformation plan.
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