Unipart Group of Companies is signalling the start of a major recruitment campaign as it strives to find the right candidate to head its European aftermarket arm. The firm told the City that Paul Forman, managing director of its European aftermarket division, will leave at the end of the year. Forman will become chief executive of plastics company Low & Bonar.

Now Unipart will look both inside and outside the company as it searches to find the person who will fill Forman's shoes and report directly to group chief executive John Neill. UGC remains tight-lipped about who might be in the running to succeed Forman and a spokesman says no timescale has been put on finding a replacement.