Simon Burke has never been afraid of a challenge. The man who first approached private equity house Permira with the idea of approaching the struggling book and stationery retailer has become something of an expert in turning around the fortunes of failing companies.

The son of a civil servant, the Dubliner (45) apparently decided on a career in accountancy as a 14-year-old running his own business selling home-grown vegetables.

But, just over 10 years after leaving St Mary's College in Rathmines, crunching numbers was losing its allure.

A year's secondment with company crisis manager Mr David James provided the spur that saw him leave the security of Cooper's & Lybrand for a rollercoaster ride at Sir Richard Branson's Virgin empire.

While there, he was handed responsibility for the retail division, which was, by Mr Burke's own admission, "a nightmare".

However, he turned it around before merging the business with WH Smith's Our Price chain. While Virgin had only a 25 per cent stake in the operation, Mr Burke was made chief executive and joined the WH Smith board.

In 1999, he was headhunted by listed London toy store Hamley's, which had just gone through three chief executives in three years.

In four years, he stemmed losses and re-invigorated its flagship London store, recording profits of £5.6 million (€8.4 million) in the year before selling the group private in a MBO valued at €47.4 million.

He attributes his success to a drive for perfection instilled by a "demanding but fair" father and it is his attention to detail and fairness that is recalled by people who have worked with him.

He is likely to need all of that if he is to restore company fortunes and staff morale at WH Smith.