Morrisons hunts for new man at the top

MORRISONS has begun the search for a new chief executive to revive its fortunes after ending the five-year reign of Dalton Philips.

Dalton Philips, current CEO of MorrisonsPHOTOJOE.COM

Dalton Philips is to step down as CEO of the supermarket

Britain's fourth biggest supermarket chain will seek an external candidate to replace Philips, who steps down in March with a year's salary of £850,000, which could rise with share awards and bonuses.

Andrew Higginson, the former Tesco director appointed as Morrisons' deputy chairman last July, will step up to the role of chairman next week five months early.

Philips' departure was announced alongside a trading update that showed Morrisons lagging behind its main rivals' performances over Christmas.

In the six weeks to January 4, its underlying sales, excluding fuel, were down 3.1 per cent.

Morrisons will also close 10 loss-making stores this year, with the loss of 409 jobs.

It is thought the stores are smaller supermarkets and mainly in the company's northern heartland.

Higginson said: "In the next chapter of Morrisons' development, we need to return the business to growth.

"The board believes this is best done under new leadership.

In the next chapter of Morrisons' development, we need to return the business to growth

Andrew Higginson, chairman

"We had a view as a board that a retail business needs trading momentum to really perform and we want to restore that sooner rather than later.

"We just felt it was time for a fresh pair of eyes to look at the challenges we have.

"Dalton had a good run and made a difference.

"He has brought great personal qualities and values to his leadership of the business, having had to manage against a background of considerable industry turmoil and change."

The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to January 4 showed the continued pressure on the big four of Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons from Lidl and Aldi, which grew by 15.1 per cent and 22.6 per cent respectively over the period for a combined market share of 8.3 per cent.

Kantar's head of retail and consumer insight said: "Competition has been fierce and there is now a gap of just 0.9 per cent sales growth separating the four largest retailers.

"Such a tightly fought race is unprecedented in records dating back to 1994."

Shares in Morrisons, which forecasts annual underlying pre-tax profit of between £335-365million and proceeds from property disposals of £400-500million, rose 8p to 184¾p.

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