Sainsbury’s braced for boardroom shake-up

SAINSBURY’S top team could face a major shake-up under its new chairman.

Martin Scicluna, 68, who is currently chairman of insurer RSA Group and Great Portland Estates, is taking over next month from David Tyler, who is stepping down after almost a decade.

Chief executive Mike Coupe, 58, suffered an embarrassing defeat this week when the £14bn Sainsbury’s and Asda merger was effectively blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Clive Black, head of research at Shore Capital, said: ‘The first thing the new chairman will ask is: “What the hell has gone on here to get to this position?”’

But he added: ‘I don’t think it would be wise, after the shock to the system that the business has received, for them to remove the chief executive.

‘The big question for the board is that none of them actually asked the questions that would lead to management to think that the CMA could absolutely destroy their argument.

‘The advisory team and the executive team have been sitting there with a fistful of dollars and couldn’t see the wood for the trees,’ Black said.

Sainsbury’s shares closed up 0.1pc, or 0.2p, to 233.6p.