Electricals group DSG International suffered a fresh blow today when finance director Kevin O'Byrne jumped ship to rival retailer Kingfisher.

With the share price in freefall and talk growing that DSG may be forced to merge with Comet owner Kesa, the loss of one its most senior executives will be seen as bad news in the City.

John Browett, the chief executive of the Currys-to-PC World business, recently arrived from Tesco, and has begun a radical shake-up in a bid to save the company. O'Byrne was running the business before Browett arrived, and is thought to be peeved at having been passed over for the top job.

The 43-year-old, who had been finance director since 2004, takes up the same role at B&Q owner Kingfisher in October. He is replaced at DSG by Nicholas Cadbury, finance director of the international arm.

Kingfisher boss Ian Cheshire said of his new hire: "Kevin is a first-class finance director who brings with him considerable retail experience. I believe we now have a very strong top team."

Duncan Tatton-Brown, Kingfisher's finance chief for the past four years, is leaving to "pursue a career outside the group" in the words of the statement.

Kingfisher has its own problems. It has just sawn a chunk off the dividend to preserve cash, and has written off tens of millions of pounds to reflect downgrades at its Chinese arm. Kingfisher, like all retailers, has seen its shares sink but today they added 7.6p to 103.7p.

The company also announced the appointment of Peter Hogsted as chief executive of the international business, an important role given that half the group's sales are outside the UK. He joins from IKEA, where he headed the UK arm.

DSG shares,close to 200p 18 months ago, have plummeted as the City took fright after a terrible Christmas trading period, and amid increasing concerns the firm it was failing to compete with online rivals. The shares were today up 2p to 39-3/4p.

A merger with Kesa might solve some of its difficulties, though analysts at Kaupthing said such a deal would be "extremely unattractive" from a Kesa point of view.

Browett admits his turnaround plan will take several years. He is working on sprucing up the stores and improving the level of customer service.