The man who sparked uproar in the Black Country after suggesting that the famous Beatties department store name should be scrapped has courted controversy again.

This time Jon Asgeir Johannesson, boss of retail investment group Baugur, called for a big revamp at Woolies. He said Woolworths directors needed to “make big changes” and questioned using money on refurbishing ailing stores.

He said management needed to “get their act together” to improve the retail side of the business.

His comments extended  pressure from Baugur, who own a 10 per cent stake in Woolies, for Woolworths to consider splitting its wholesale and retail arms, as well as the sale of a substantial number of its stores.

Such a move would reverse a strategy of having a shop near every British household. It currently operates about 800 sites, plus a wholesale arm distributing DVDs and CDs to retailers.

Mr Johannesson said:  “I think it’s a tricky situation here. I think the management have to get their act together on that one to improve the retail side of the business. It could be very hard for the management. If they don’t make big changes they could be in trouble.”

He sparked a storm when, after buying Beatties owner House of Fraser, he said the Beatties name “lacked resonance” with shoppers and should be replaced with the title of its main brand.

Local pressure led to House of Fraser new boss, John King, visiting Beatties flagship store in Wolverhampton in December and being handed a dossier, compiled by the Express & Star, full of comments from dignitaries, MPs and customers calling for the Beatties name to be retained.

More than three months later House of Fraser has maintained the Beatties identity on 11 of its stores, and it appears in no hurry to remove it. Woolworths is  under pressure after  posting underlying pre-tax profits of £21.8 million for the 53 weeks to February 3, compared with £57.7 million the previous year.

It has been hard hit by falling CD and DVD prices thanks to increased competition from supermarkets and online sellers as like-for-like retail sales fell 6.6 per cent.