No quick fixes for Morrisons as chairman steers away from "messiah strategy"

MORRISONS chairman Andrew Higginson has warned it will take up to five years to get the supermarket chain back “to full health” as it looks to emerge from a torrid couple of years’ trading.

The Bradford-based retailer, which is looking for a new chief executive after announcing Dalton Philips will leave in March, has been the weakest performer of the Big Four, as the impact on discount supermarkets and on Morrisons’ late arrival to convenience stores and online shopping have left it lagging behind its rivals.

There is reported to be a shortlist of five, led by former Tesco executive David Potts. Mr Potts, who started working at a Tesco store in Manchester in 1973, left in 2011 after rising to become head of its Asian business.

Former Halfords chief executive and Asda director Ian McLeod, currently working in Australia, had been tipped as a strong candidate but on Friday announced he was joining American grocery chain Bi-Lo. Other names reported to have been under consideration are former Tesco executives Richard Brasher and John Browett.

In an interview with the Sunday Times, Mr Higginson – whose 14 years at Tesco almost exactly overlapped with Sir Terry Leahy’s reign as chief executive – said there was “nothing magical” required from the new chief executive to improve Morrisons’ fortunes.

“To be frank this isn’t an issue of strategy, it’s about execution and delivering,” he said. “This is not a kind of messiah strategy where someone comes in and everyone goes ‘ah!”‘ and the thing is all right. It’s about the hard work of the team, trying to encourage more customers to come to your stores.”