Robert Horne Group managing director Toby Marchant is to leave the Northampton-based merchant to take over from Martin Fothergill as PaperlinX's regional president for the UK and Ireland.

"This demonstrates that PaperlinX regards this as a worldwide operation, and also shows what a global player it is," he said.

PaperlinX has advertised internally for a replacement, and Marchant said he hoped one would be found before he starts his new role on
1 November.

Fothergill will relocate to Melbourne and become group general manager for merchanting Australia and New Zealand. He will replace Roger Breen, who steps into the new role of executive general manager for merchanting.

Fothergill, who has 30 years' experience in the sector, will be responsible for all of PaperlinX's Australian and New Zealand paper merchanting businesses, which have total revenues of 430m (Aus$1bn) and 700 staff. He will also report to PaperlinX chief executive Tom Park.

A spokesman for PaperlinX in Australia said the moves followed Breen's elevation into what essentially was a new role.

"This obviously created vacancies that we were keen to fill from our talented pool of managers," said the spokesman.

He added that  the changes were not immediate and would be phased in as best suits both the businesses and the individuals.

Story by Andy Scott