The chief executive of Dutch supermarket group Ahold fell on his sword today be replaced by the finance director John Rishton, the former finance chief at British Airways.

The departure of Anders Moberg, set for July, triggered speculation that Ahold, the world's fourth largest food retailer behind Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Metro, might be maneouvering to merge with Belgian rival Delhaize, or break itself up.

Ahold said the move had been by mutual agreement with Mr Moberg. Chairman Rene Dahan said the board considered "now is a good time for new leadership to be appointed to take the group through its next set of challenges and opportunities."

Mr Rishton, 49, who was hired to Ahold just over a year ago, is seen by analysts a better bet to steer Ahold through its difficulties in the US where it is attempting to sell underperforming subsidiaries including Topps Stores and its US Foodservice arm, expected to fetch up to $6 billion.

Last month it announced it was selling these assets and that margins were falling at its US Stop & Shop and Giant-Landover chains.

Broker Rabo Securities said: “We expect Rishton to be the right person to drive a faster operational recovery of US retail and to improve capital efficiency. We believe Rishton is clearly focused on value creation.”

Investors seemed to share this view and Ahold shares hit a more than three year high on the news. The stock was up 2 per cent up at €9.5 in early trading.

Analysts said Mr Rishton had played a key role in trimming Ahold’s net debt and cutting costs.

Mr Moberg took the reins at Ahold in 2003 shortly after a devastating US accounting scandal hit its profits and successfully cut debt and sold off assets. But he had no prior food retail experience.

ING analyst John David Roeg said: “Moberg’s departure is likely to result in renewed speculation about a break-up or possibly a merger with Delhaize.”