Hamleys toys with Smith as new chief executive

A former executive at Debenhams and The Body Shop has been parachuted in as the new boss of Hamleys, the toy retailer that was bought by one of India's biggest companies last year.

Sky News understands that David Smith has been recruited as Hamleys chief executive by Reliance Brands, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries.

An announcement about his appointment is expected to be made this week.

Mr Smith, whose most recent full-time role was running Debenhams' international operations, has taken on a perennially challenging job for arguably the world's best-known toy store.

Reliance bought Hamleys for about £70m from C.banner International, a Chinese company which had owned the business for more than three years.

The sale marked Hamleys' fourth change of ownership in 15 years following a succession of largely failed attempts by a range of international shareholders to expand the renowned brand globally.

Hamleys trades from about 129 stores globally, with most of those operated under franchise.

Founded ‎in 1760, Hamleys is one of the most famous retailing names in the world, having occupied its current site on London's Regent Street since 1881.

It was launched as Noah's Ark by William Hamley, who stocked his store with items such as tin soldiers, wooden horses and rag dolls.

In 2003, the company was taken off the London stock market by Baugur Group, the Icelandic‎ investor which snapped up a string of big high street names in the decade before the financial crisis.

Baugur paid £47.4m for Hamleys, which was then sold in 2012 for £60m to Groupe Ludendo, a French company, by the winding-up committee of the failed Icelandic bank Landsbanki.

Groupe Ludendo hailed its takeover as a "platform to accelerate our international development", but the move failed to pay significant dividends, leading to C.banner's purchase three years later.

Under its Chinese owner, Hamleys opened a 115,000 sq ft store in Beijing in a ceremony overseen by Britain's ambassador to China.