Appleton takes senior post at Travis Perkins

Former Lavendon CEO Kevin Appleton is joining Travis Perkins as head of its £1.5 billion merchanting division, which includes the TP Hire tool hire business.

He replaces Joe Mescall, who is progressively stepping down from Travis Perkins as he nears retirement. Mr Appleton - whose job title is division chairman, which is the equivalent of divisional CEO - will work with Mr Mescall for a number of months before he takes on the full running of the division later this year.

Travis Perkins is one of the UK's biggest builders merchants chains and runs tool hire operations at many of its stores under the TP Hire brand.

The appointment, effective on 15 April, means that Mr Appleton retains a foot in the rental sector and heads up a much bigger business than his previous post.

Meanwhile, Mr Appleton was elected as a non-executive director of Nordic rental company Ramirent at the company's AGM on Wednesday 28 March. The post will take about 10 days of his time every year. He continues to serve as a board member of the European Rental Association.