Morrisons stores boss quits as Baitieh tightens grip

MORRISONS has been hit by the abrupt departure of its stores chief as its new boss Rami Baitieh tightens his grip at the top of the supermarket.

David Lepley is leaving the business four years after he was appointed group retail director, having worked at Morrisons for nearly eight years.

His departure marks the latest leadership change at Morrisons, as the private equity-owned business pursues a bold transformation plan under new chief executive Mr Baitieh.

The French retail veteran was drafted in from Carrefour to replace David Potts last year, two years after Morrisons was sold to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice for £7bn. Mr Lepley has extensive experience in the retail sector, having started his career at Asda in 2005 before joining Morrisons in 2016.

M&S attempted to poach him in 2019 but Mr Lepley quit and decided to stay at Morrisons after being promoted to operations director.

He was appointed to Morrisons’ executive committee one year later, taking up the role of group retail director. It is not clear if he will be replaced.

Morrisons has faced a string of challenges since CD&R’S debt-fuelled deal in 2021, including losing its spot as Britain’s fourth-largest grocer to Aldi. Mr Baitieh has vowed to “reinvigorate” the business after admitting Morrisons has fallen “below the pack” by losing shoppers to discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Last month, he said: “Since the pandemic, Morrisons has not been on peak form. Our market share has slipped slowly but consistently, our like-for-likes – although an improving and encouraging trend – have been below the pack for a while and the switching data has not been encouraging.”

He has vowed to listen more closely to customers, inviting them to all board meetings to give their opinion on what was wrong within stores.

Morrisons refused to give any details of Mr Lepley’s exit, who was responsible for overseeing the company’s stores.

It comes as the company attempts to shore up its balance sheet, which has been hampered by billions of pounds worth of debt.

Last week, it announced a deal to sell 337 petrol forecourts to Motor Fuel Group for £2.5bn.

Morrisons’ most recent results revealed signs of progress, as bosses in January said that pre-tax profits for the year were up, but it did not disclose figures. It currently holds 8.8pc of the grocery market, according to the latest figures from Kantar, down from 9.1pc last year and compared to 9.3pc held by Aldi. Morrisons declined to comment.