Start day for Morrisons' supremo

Mr Philips succeeds Marc Bolland, who has left to head Marks & Spencer as chief executive.

A former executive for Asda owner Wal-Mart, Mr Philips has relocated from Canada.

His last role was chief operating officer of food group Loblaw – Canada's largest food distributor and a 1,000-strong retail chain – since January 2007.

Bradford-based Morrisons said its new chief executive would spend his first day visiting various areas of the business. He is due in the head office today.

Mr Philips, 41, is a relative unknown in Britain's retail sector, but the group said on announcing his appointment that he had a "tremendous retail pedigree and a wealth of experience from senior retail positions around the world".

Before Loblaw, he was chief executive of Irish department store Brown Thomas and also previously chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's German operations.

Mr Philips, who is Irish, joins Morrisons at a resurgent time for the UK's fourth largest supermarket.

It recently reported a 21 per cent rise profits to 767m for the 12 months to January 31, while like-for-like sales rose six per cent.