Morrisons has announced that Joanna Goff will become its new Chief Financial Officer to replace Michael Gleeson who left the business last month in the wake of the takeover by CD&R.
Goff has worked for the retailer for more than 10 years and took on the role of Operations Development Director at the beginning of 2020, with responsibilities that include productivity, procurement, group strategy, and loss prevention. However, she was previously Group Finance Director having worked in various finance-related roles for the retailer before then.
Before joining Morrisons in 2011, Goff was employed by PwC for 11 years.
“Jo is a great example of the new generation of home-grown talent that is rapidly progressing at Morrisons and I’m very pleased to appoint her to such a crucial role,” said Chief Executive David Potts.
“Jo is widely experienced having held a number of senior financial and strategic roles at Morrisons and in all of them has made a very significant contribution to the business. I look forward to welcoming her to our board and to working closely with her in the next phase of our development.”
Gleeson said last month that he was leaving the business in search of a “fresh challenge” having played a key role in the takeover negotiations with CD&R.
Last week, Morrisons yesterday warned that its sales and profit for the year could be impacted by the war in Ukraine and rising inflation. The retailer is currently in the process of refinancing billions of pounds of debt taken on as part of the takeover by the American private equity firm.
Surging grocery prices appear to be forcing consumers to adjust their shopping habits to save money, including shifting their spend to discounters and own-label. Morrisons looks to be one of the biggest losers from consumers trading down with latest data from Kantar showing the retailer’s sales fell 11.5% over the 12 weeks to 20 March, more than any other major chain.
Reports last week said that the new owners of Morrisons have given the go-ahead for plans to sell some of the group’s property portfolio, namely its manufacturing and distribution facilities, worth around £500m.
