Job done as Metcash chief goes

OUTGOING Metcash chief Ian Morrice says he is leaving the food and grocery wholesaler with a balance sheet that provides it with the firepower to move on to future growth opportunities.

Metcash had built a sustainable business at a time of “unprecedented” upheaval in the grocery sector.

The Scotsman yesterday said he would leave Metcash — which supplies IGA supermarkets and owns Mitre 10 and Home Timber & Hard- ware — by the middle of next year after five years in the role.

The announcement came as Metcash, which has struggled in an increasingly competitive supermarket space, delivered a better than expected profit haul and resumed paying dividends.

“It’s the right time,” Mr Morrice said of his retirement.

He has been in charge of a $750 million turnaround strategy at the group, cutting costs and introducing “price matching” on everyday grocery items at participating IGA stores.

Other key decisions have included buying Home Timber and Hardware from Woolworths and selling Metcash’s automotive division, which included the Autopro, Autobarn and Midas chains.

Net profit slumped 21 per cent to $171.9 million for the year to April as Metcash absorbed restructuring costs associated with its hardware expansion and gave up revenue from its discontinued automotive business.

Underlying profit, which strips out one-offs, rose more than 9 per cent to a better than expected $194.8 million.

Shares in Metcash closed 5 per cent higher at $2.30.