Scottish & Newcastle was yesterday seen as strengthening its immediate independent future as it appointed John Dunsmore, 48, a former drinks industry analyst, to succeed its chief executive Tony Froggatt, 59, in barely a month's time.

Scottish & Newcastle was yesterday seen as strengthening its immediate independent future as it appointed John Dunsmore, 48, a former drinks industry analyst, to succeed its chief executive Tony Froggatt, 59, in barely a month's time.

Froggatt, who took over in May 2003, had been expected to stay until nearer the end of the five-year stint he was believed to have set himself, but S&N was stressing yesterday that "long-term succession planning" had been in place.

Dunsmore was appointed managing director of S&N's predominant western European businesses in May, after five years heading up the UK business. He is now expected to refresh the management structure and may not appoint a successor to his current role.

He has been given the nod over joint managing director John Nicolson, formerly head of the international division, who since May has overseen the eastern European and Asian businesses which are critical to S&N's growth.

Froggatt has agreed to stay on for a further three months to ensure a smooth transition, though S&N dampened speculation that he was planning a move back to Australia.

"The important thing to realise about John is that he has run the largest and most profitable chunk of S&N - our UK business is more profitable than the next three brewers put together - for some years now, in one of the most competitive markets in the world," said a source at S&N. He has also been on the board at the brewer's Indian joint venture Kingfisher.

It is the Edinburgh-based brewer's 50% interest with Carlsberg in Baltic Beverages Holdings (BBH), owner of Russian market leader Baltika, that has been at the centre of continuing market speculation this year over a possible bigger tie-up between the Scottish and Danish brewers.

Matthew Webb at broker Cazenove commented: "This management change removes Carlsberg's incentive to launch an opportunistic bid designed to achieve a recommendation before Froggatt's departure."

S&N commented: "We have got a very strong relationship with Carlsberg over the Russian business and that will continue."

The catalyst for recent Carlsberg-S&N speculation came in April when the charitable Carlsberg Foundation announced a plan to cut its stake in Carlsberg to 25%, allowing it to raise cash, while holding 51% of the brewer's voting shares. This move will allow Carlsberg to raise around $12.7bn (£6.35bn) to spend on acquisitions, and the Danish company's chairman has said a big deal is likely.