Morrisons: David Potts displayed steady nerve at helm of Bradford supermarket giant

The announcement that former Carrefour France chief executive Rami Baitiéh has been appointed as the new chief executive of Morrisons is the latest chapter in one of the most remarkable business stories ever told.

Morrisons’ epic scale is largely due to the drive and tenacity of one man, William’s son, Sir Ken. At the age of 21, Sir Ken took over responsibility for running a small group of Bradford market stalls from his father. In 1958, the first Morrisons shop opened in Bradford with three checkouts. Three years later, Sir Ken opened Morrisons first supermarket and, when the company went public in 1967 to fund further growth, the share offer was massively oversubscribed.

In 2004 Morrisons bought rival chain Safeway for £3bn as part of a bold expansion strategy. Sir Ken, who retired in 2008, was a no nonsense retailer who didn’t hesitate to criticise senior management at Morrisons if he felt they had lost their way.

When he died, aged 85 in 2017, he was mourned by the county’s corporate community. Morrisons has now revealed that David Potts is stepping down as CEO after nine years.

Mr Potts will be replaced by Mr Baitieh, who will work closely with his predecessor to ensure a “smooth handover period”.

The change in leadership comes a year after US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice snapped up Morrisons.

Victoria Scholar, Head of Investment, at interactive investor said: “Mr Baitieh, who will take up the role in November, has many years of experience working in supermarkets. He marched his way up to the top job at Carrefour having previously held regional CEO roles.

"There will of course be major similarities but also differences between the supermarket sectors in France and the UK. Getting to grips with the UK market dynamics is likely to be among his first tests.

"But Morrisons certainly has confidence in him. Sir Terry Leahy, a senior adviser to CD&R and the former boss of Tesco said Morrisons is ‘poised for growth.’

“Mr Potts said there had been discussions about succession planning since the supermarket was bought by private equity firm CD&R in 2021. There were concerns at the time about the high levels of debt involved in the £7bn deal.

"Morrisons is somewhat squeezed in the middle with intense competition from Tesco’s sheer size as well as the rock bottom prices on offer from the German discounters.”

The latest data, however, is positive. Morrisons revealed that total sales, excluding fuel, grew by 3.1 per cent to £3.8bn for the 13 weeks to July 30 and group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT, were up 2.9 per cent. This performance is due to Mr Potts’ steady hand on the tiller. He leaves Morrisons in better shape than when he arrived and provides Mr Baitiéh with a platform for sustainable growth.

Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post