New chairman for GHD as firm settles claim

The Leeds company is famous for hair straighteners and is one of Yorkshire’s biggest international success stories of recent years.

Mr Lovering is a heavyweight in the world of retail, having chaired companies such as Debenhams, Homebase, Peacocks, Somerfield and Go Outdoors.

Most recent accounts show that sales rose to £147.5m in 2010, but the group made a pre-tax loss of £4.4m.

Mr Lovering is also regarded as a dealmaker, leading to speculation that GHD’s owner, Montagu Private Equity, might be preparing the company for a sale.

GHD has appointed a new finance director, Lawrence Coppock, to take over from Mark Hall, who is now running the firm’s North American operations. Non-executive director Peter Cheung has left the company.

Montagu bought GHD – Good Hair Day – in a £160m buyout in July 2007, near the top of the market for leveraged deals.

Co-founder Martin Penny launched a High Court legal action against Montagu in November, claiming that he was unfairly ousted in a boardroom coup in December 2008.

It emerged yesterday that Montagu and Mr Penny reached a settlement in early January.

A spokeswoman for Montagu would not discuss the terms of the agreement. Mr Penny also declined to comment when contacted by the Yorkshire Post.