Asda says its chief executive to quit after 18 months in job

● COO Roger Burnley to replace Sean Clarke at top

Supermarket chain Asda yesterday abruptly announced that its deputy CEO will take over the helm as president and chief executive in the new year.

Roger Burnley, who is also the Big Four grocer’s chief operating officer (COO), will take up the role on 1 January, taking over from Sean Clarke, who will step down by the end of December.

Clarke only became chief executive in July 2016 when Andy Clarke quit the post, but Asda said yesterday that it had a long-standing plan for Burnley to take the top job after rejoining the food retailer in October 2016.

Dave Cheesewright, chief executive of Asda’s US owner Walmart International, said: “Roger was purposefully brought back to Asda to partner with Sean ahead of the transition to Roger taking up the position of CEO.

“He and Sean have worked as a great team and I’m really confident in Roger’s ability to continue building upon our returning momentum.”

Asda poached Burnley from rival Sainsbury’s last year, where he was retail and operations director. His previous stint at Asda was as supply chain director between 1996 and 2002.

Clarke is expected to “remain engaged” with Walmart after stepping down and “taking some time out”, Cheesewright said.

The supermarket major announced in September that it had axed nearly 300 jobs at its head office in order to cut costs – more than one in ten of its 2,500 HQ roles.

A further 800 staff had their job descriptions changed as part of the shake-up.

Reports also surfaced this summer that thousands of Asda workers at 18 underperforming stores were facing redundancy or changes to their working hours.

Clarke has been pursuing a turnaround of Asda against a backcloth of falling sales as the supermarket scraps it out with rivals in a price war that has eroded both profits and margins.

There have been signs that his strategy was starting to bear fruit, with Asda posting its first quarterly sales growth in three years in August.

The company reported a 1.8 per cent rise in like-forlike sales in its second trading quarter, drawing a line under 11 consecutive quarters of deteriorating same-floorspace sales.

Figures were boosted by a combination of price cuts and rising inflation, and came a year after Asda reported its worst quarterly performance on record when sales tumbled by 7.5 per cent. Port Glasgow-based drinks industry supplier Mclaren Packaging has invested £3 million in building a 20,000 square foot facility in Stirling for subsidiary Blue Box Design, which designs and makes bespoke presentation boxes for the UK food, drink and luxury sectors. It will create 18 jobs over four years. Pictured, from left, are Mclaren Packaging MD Donald Mclaren, sales and marketing director Michael Mclaren and Blue Box Design MD Duncan Robertson.