Former Vodafone man to turn around Game fortunes

Game Group, which is battling a "challenging" market and fierce competition, saw like-for-like sales fall 12.3 per cent in the 19 weeks to June 12 and said sales would stay in the red for the rest of the year.

Despite new games releases including Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the highly-cyclical sector is currently in a trough and hardware sales fell 33 per cent year on year mainly due to lower Nintendo sales.

Game has appointed the former consumer director of Vodafone, Ian Shepherd, as its new chief executive following the sudden departure of former boss Lisa Morgan in April.

The firm said Mr Shepherd - whose previous responsibilities included Vodafone's 400-strong retail chain - had a "proven track record" in building brands and customer relationships.