Morrisons boss vows to ‘reinvigorate’ grocer

MORRISONS’ new chief has vowed to reinvigorate the supermarket after years of it falling “below the pack” and losing shoppers to Aldi.

Rami Baitiéh, a French retail veteran, said Morrisons needed to start a new chapter and “reinvigorate, refresh and strengthen” its business, as he races to reverse the supermarket’s decline.

Mr Baitiéh said: “Since the pandemic, Morrisons has not been on peak form. Our market share has slipped slowly but consistently, our like-for-likes have been below the pack and the switching data has not been encouraging.”

He said workers “must not be satisfied” with this performance, although recent sales figures were positive.

The supermarket yesterday revealed sales were up 3.3pc in the last three months of its financial year to the end of October, stripping out fuel.

Morrisons bosses said pre-tax profits for the year were up on the prior year, although did not lay out figures. On an adjusted basis, profits rose 6.5pc to £970m. It comes as Morrisons takes steps to shore up its balance sheet. Earlier this week, it said it was selling its petrol forecourts to Motor Fuel Group, which is owned by the same private equity owners, in a £2.5bn deal.

Mr Baitiéh said this would “significantly reduce” its debt pile, which has reached £5.7bn, as well as allow for more investment into Morrisons.

The French retail chief, who joined Morrisons from Carrefour France in November, signalled that he was plotting sweeping changes at the grocer, which in 2022 lost its place as Britain’s fourth largest supermarket to Aldi. Morrisons currently holds 8.8pc of the grocery market, according to the latest figures from Kantar, down from 9.1pc last year and the 9.3pc held by Aldi.

Mr Baitiéh said change was under way at the stores which he said he was confident would draw customers back.