Chinese fashion retailer Bosideng International Holdings Ltd has appointed a new chief executive officer in an effort to reverse its declining business.

Liang Sheu h-Hvei, formerly with shoe and apparel retailer Daphne International, will take over as CEO of Bosideng. Gao Dekang will leave his position as chief executive officer on May 15 but will continue to act as chairman of Bosideng.

Bosideng said the move to separate the two jobs is in response to the fast expanding scale of the group, which requires more professional talent to delegate and manage the company for long-term development.

Liang, who had been chief operating officer at Goodbaby Co Ltd, a child product retailer, left that company four months after it went public. In 2012, Liang joined Daphne as chief strategic officer, responsible for decision-making of operating projects.

A large-scale revenue decline in recent years was behind the shakeup at Bosideng, according to industry experts.

The retailer's midterm report showed that as of Sept 30, the end of the first half of its fiscal year, the company's revenue fell 8.8 percent to 2.89 billion yuan ($464 million) and operating profits were down 19.67 percent to 343 million yuan.

In additional to the sluggish performance of its down jacket brands, Bosideng's highly touted men's clothing unit also delivered poor results. Its men's apparel business took in 480 million yuan, down 30 percent year-on-year, according to its annual report.

The Shanghai-based fashion retailer's ambitious plan to open 1,000 men's clothing stores was put on hold. In its first half fiscal year report ending in September, the number of stores for men's clothes fell by 92 stores to 663 stores.

Bosideng's overseas expansion plan was also derailed. Last month, the retailer ended contracts with its UK buying and design teams and shifted some key manufacturing to China.

The company announced that collections would no longer be designed in the UK but that local Chinese designers would step up and add more Chinese elements.