Morrisons stunned the grocery world yesterday by hiring a relatively unknown Irishman as its Chief Executive to fill the boots of Marc Bolland, who is joining Marks & Spencer. Philips, aged 41, will take up the position in March, becoming one of the youngest chief executives to lead a FTSE 100 company.

Since January 2007, Philips has been Chief Operating Officer of Loblaw, Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of general merchandise, pharmacy and financial products and services. Prior to that he was Chief Executive of Irish department store group, Brown Thomas. Between 1998 and 2005 he worked for Walmart’s international division holding a range of commercial positions, rising to Chief Operating Officer in Germany.

Commenting on his appointment, Sir Ian Gibson, Morrisons Chairman said, “I am delighted that Dalton will be joining Morrisons as Chief Executive. He has a tremendous retail pedigree and a wealth of experience from senior retail positions around the world. I look forward to welcoming him to the great team at Morrisons”.

Philips said, "I am really pleased to be joining Morrisons. It's an incredibly exciting business with a terrific history and I'm really looking forward to meeting the team and to the challenge ahead."

Philips replaces Marc Bolland who is leaving to join Marks & Spencer. Bolland has already given up operational responsibility for Morrisons but a start date for his new role at M&S has not been confirmed. Yesterday M&S and Morrisons said there was "no update" on when he will join the high street bellwether. Earlier this month, Sir Stuart Rose, the M&S chairman, said he did not expect his successor to join "much before May".

Meanwhile, the appointment of Philips is a blow for Richard Pennycook, the finance director at Morrisons, who had been tipped to succeed Bolland and is highly regarded by the City. Investors will be keen to learn if he will remain committed, although insiders said Pennycook's response to the appointment had been "pragmatic".

It is thought that Allan Leighton, who is currently Loblaw's Chairman, played a key role in the hiring of Philips. Leighton, who helped to turn around Asda and sell it to Walmart in the 1990s, is said to be close to Sir Ken Morrison, the former chairman of Morrisons. Leighton described him as “a good retailer”, whilst David Wild, chief executive of Halfords, who worked with him at Walmart Germany, said he was “a great guy, really people focused”.

The move by Morrisons yesterday is similar to its signing of Bolland, a former chief operating officer at Heineken, who was little-known in UK grocery circles before he took the helm at the UK's fourth biggest grocer in September 2006. The choice surprised analysts as Philips had not been previously linked to the job. Clive Black, a Shore Capital analyst, said Philips was a "new face" adding, "The decision to go outside these shores may reflect the exceptionally good skills of Philips and/or a lack of enthusiasm of others to apply for the job".

NamNews - Thursday 28th January 2010

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