SIR Ken Morrison yesterday caved in to City pressure following two recent profit warnings from the William Morrison supermarket group by announcing a boardroom shake-up that includes the departure of the finance director.
Martin Ackroyd is stepping down after 18 years as finance director. He has been with the Bradford-based company 31 years.
Joint managing director Bob Stott is moving up to a newly created post of chief executive.
Senior non-executive director
David Jones is believed to have communicated the City’s disquiet at the lack of succession plans at Morrison to the board. Jones becomes deputy chairman.
The two profit warnings largely related to accounting issues at Safeway following Morrison’s acquisition of the company in 2003 to make it Britain’s fourth-biggest supermarkets group.
Asked if the boardroom changes meant 73-year-old Sir Ken, who has run the company for nearly 50 years, was considering retiring, Stott said: "He certainly has not revealed any plans to me that he wants to retire from the business, apart from the odd day off.
"He works from very early in the morning to very late in the evening. He gets no younger."
Stott said it was as yet unclear whether Ackroyd would leave the business once a new finance director was appointed, but that if he did Morrison would honour his one-year contract.
News of the changes came as Morrison revealed that pre-tax profits fell to £297 million in the year to the end of January, compared with £320m the previous year.
The group took a £40m charge resulting from an audit of Safeway’s supplier discounts.
Stott said the integration of Safeway had proved "a challenge" but that progress was definitely being made.
Same-floorspace sales at core Morrisons’ stores were up 7.1 per cent on the year, with converted Safeway stores up 10.9 per cent and unconverted Safeway down 6.8 per cent.
And in the first six weeks of its new financial year, there was improving performance from both converted and unconverted Safeway stores, with like-for-like sales up 13 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.
Stott said there was greater work to be done in Scotland. He said:
"We are doing okay [in Scotland] but the brand is not yet known in Scotland as it is in England."
Stott added: "We are very food-focused. We are not into non-food or high value or fashion."
So far, 12 of the 50 Safeway stores acquired in Scotland have been converted to the Morrison format, and Stott said the rest would be converted by the end of the year, mirroring the pace of change in England.
The final dividend is 3.075p, making the total payout 14 per cent higher at 3.7p.
