Stephen Thomas to retire as Luminar chief executive

Night club operator Luminar Group's chief executive Stephen Thomas is to retire.

Thomas will step down from the company's board at the end of February but will continue to work at the company until July to ensure a "smooth transition" for his successor.

Thomas, who founded the company, will be replaced by Simon Douglas, who has held management roles at HMV, Virgin Retail, and was mostly recently the chief executive in leaning the MBO of music chain Zavvi. He will join on the 8 March.

Alan Jackson, Luminar's chairman commented: "Stephen has pioneered many of the modern operating trends now prevalent in the industry. He leaves us a great asset base and a strong, experienced and loyal team of people. We would like to thank him for his outstanding dedication to the company and for committing to a well-planned handover. We wish him well for the future.

"I am delighted to welcome Simon to Luminar. He has grown consumer businesses in tough markets and I have no doubt that under his leadership, as trading conditions improve, Luminar is well positioned to leverage its strengths into shareholder value."

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By Neil Gerrard

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