Morrisons share price falls as interims show profits plummet 35 per cent; chief executive David Potts admits turnaround will be “a long journey”
The figures
Why it's interesting
Morrisons is at something of a crossroads.
Having unceremoniously ditched its former chief executive Dalton Philips, it parachuted in Tesco lifer David Potts to steer the supermarket back into calmer waters. Since his arrival, Potts has announced a number of initiatives including cutting back the head office head count in favour of putting more feet on the store floor, as well as overseeing the deal to sell off M Local to Mike Greene, which was confirmed last year.
But, as other supermarkets before it have found, turning around one of the big four retailers will be a long journey – a fact that Potts himself acknowledged today.
Potts has outlined six priorities "to build on our strengths and improve the customer shopping trip". They include being more competitive; to serve customers better; find local solutions; to develop popular and useful services; to simplify and speed up the organisation and to make the core supermarkets strong again.
Progress was being made on all of these aims, adding that the £1bn cost saving programme was "on-track", the supermarket said. A further 11 stores are to be closed, Morrisons confirmed today.
What they said
Chairman Andrew Higginson said: "David has very quickly formed a new team that combines the best of Morrisons home grown and external talent. I am also delighted that two new non-executive directors – Belinda Richards and Irwin Lee – have recently joined and strengthened the board. They bring a wealth of experience, which will prove invaluable to Morrisons.
In short
Morrisons claims that customers and colleagues are "beginning to notice improvements", but even management admits the turnaround "will take time and require sustained investment in the proposition".