Winners and losers of David Potts’ first fortnight

David Potts officially started work as Morrisons chief executive on March 16 and 10 working days later he has already made a big impact. We take a look at some of the winners and losers from his early decisions…

Losers

1. Five board members

Just over a week after Mr Potts took the helm at Morrisons, five unlucky board members received their marching orders. In a bid to create a “leaner” organisation, Nick Collard, the customer marketing and digital director, Martyn Fletcher, the retail director, Gordon Mowat, the property and strategy director, Neal Austin, the logistics director, and Nigel Robertson, the head of Morrisons convenience business were all shown the door.

2. In store tech

Their “innovative” Intelligent Queue Management systems, introduced to cut waiting times, have been one of the first casualties of Mr Potts’ regime. Introduced in 2008 in an attempt to innovate and catch up with more tech-savvy rivals, they proved unpopular with staff as “pointless” and “inefficient.”

3. Dalton Philips

The former chief executive is seeing his reign dismantled as a big part of the drive for change is to reverse some of the “innovations” that ended up plaguing the supermarket group.

4. Morrisons’ real estate agents

After cutting 23 “poor performing” stores, the commission Morrisons’ property agents Rapleys receive will be taking a hit. However it may be a case of playing the long game, if Morrisons manages to bounce back, the firm could reap the rewards in future.

5. Head office staff

Being forced to work with the normals might end up causing a brainstorm amongst head office staff on innovative ideas for the business, but they might not be so happy about it when they’re stacking shelves at 5am.

6.Ant & Dec

Losing a multi-million contract must have stung, although it’s pretty hard to feel sorry for a pair of millionaires, even if they are Geordies.

 

Winners:

1. Remaining board members

Those that have made the cut from Potts’ ruthless board clear-out may be safe in the knowledge that they have been deemed useful to the company, but no doubt they will still be on their toes – there’s a new chief executive in town and he is not afraid of making heads roll.

2. Morrisons shareholders

So far so good for Morrisons shareholders; after a bit of a rollercoaster of a year already, seeing as it’s only March. Shares dropped in value to 171.4p in January after Dalton Philips jumped ship but have stayed steady around the 200p mark since Mr Potts arrived on the scene. At the time of writing shares were worth 202.4p valuing the company at £4.72bn, a £700m increase on January.

3. David Potts

He’s bringing short sleeves in corporate videos back and we love him for it. Though we can’t judge this one (it’s far too early and we won’t live it down if we’re wrong) we’re a fan, though the Dr Jekyll with the consumers and shareholders and Mr Hyde with the board members does seem a bit unsettling.

4. Morrisons employees

Thankfully it might be a better year for Morrisons’ employees, all 125,000 of them. Mr Potts has reinstated check out staff at the expense of technology, namely. Empowering staff, asking them what they like and dislike about working for the company will certainly help popular opinion in favour of the new chief executive as long as he makes some solid changes.

5. Andrew Higginson

It’s still early days but he can begin to feel vindicated in his choice. Potts has taken measures that emulate those of Dave Lewis at Tesco. In the last Kantar Worldpanel, Tesco was far surpassing its rivals, including Morrisons. If Potts’ plan works, this could be a turning point for the Yorkshire supermarket chain.

6. Morrisons’ shoppers

Getting rid of time-delaying machinery as well as a refocus to customer service means things are looking much rosier for Morrisons’ customers and may even attract potential new business from customers vacillating between the mid-market and discount supermarkets.

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