Former Tesco chief named as new Morrisons chairman

STRUGGLING Yorkshire supermarket chain Morrisons has appointed a former Tesco finance director as its next chairman.

Andrew Higginson, who left Tesco in 2012 after 15 years, will replace Sir Ian Gibson when he retires in 2015.

He will join the board in October as non-executive deputy chairman and chairman elect.

Higginson is currently the chairman of Poundland and N Brown Group and senior independent director of BSkyB.

Sir Gibson said: “Andy Higginson has a tremendous reputation and a distinguished career at the forefront of retailing in the UK and I am sure he will be a huge asset to Morrisons.

“I am very pleased to welcome him to the board as deputy chairman and look forward to working with him to ensure a smooth transition to the chairman role.”

Higginson added: “I am delighted to be joining the board of Morrisons. Whilst there are undoubted challenges in the industry at the moment, this is a fine business and I am looking forward to working with the great team at Morrisons who work hard every day to serve customers.”

The news comes as the Bradford-headquartered group, which announced in March it had slumped to a £176m loss last year, faces increasing pressure to reverse its fortunes.

The group said it would commit £1bn over the next three years to lowering prices as it looks to lure back shoppers after facing months of poor sales and in response to the increasing competition from discount retailers such as Aldi and Lidl.

Sir Ken Morrison launched an attack on bosses at the group last month, describing its financial results as “disastrous”.

Sir Ken, who stood down as chairman at the Bradford-based supermarket in 2008, dismissed a recovery plan by chief executive Dalton Philips at the grocer’s AGM as bull***t and said the business had failed to run its core supermarkets well.

Soon after, the group announced plans to cut 2,600 jobs as part of a management shake-up.

Morrisons took a £163m writedown after selling its baby products retailer Kiddicare to turnaround investor Endless for £2m earlier this month.

Morrisons, which acquired the business in 2011 for £70m announced earlier this year that Kiddicare was “non-strategic.”