Morrisons has suffered a wave of senior management departures, with seven senior executives exiting over the summer, including convenience director Miles Foster, chief customer officer Darren Blackhurst, property director Mark Nowak, and productivity director Jonathan Bell.
Since CEO Rami Baitiéh took over last November, nearly a third of the top 60 executives at the grocer have left, mostly resigning, The Sunday Times reported.
Other executives to have departed the grocer recently include media director Sophie Bayer, non-food category director Tony Fearon and two people directors, Inji Duducu and Charlie Field.
Morrisons said the number of departures last year across its “165-strong leadership team” was in line with historic levels and that the business was performing well.
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A spokesman told the newspaper: “Those who have left have been replaced with internal promotions, external hires or a reallocation of responsibilities.”
Sources told the title they believe supply chain director Lauren Lepley, who has been out of the business for weeks, could be the next to leave.
Morrisons has struggled since its £7bn acquisition by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in 2022. According to latest NIQ data, its market share has slipped from 8.5% to 8.4%.
However, the supermarket claimed it had “a solid quarter of progress” in its last quarter, as like-for-likes excluding fuel and VAT rose 4.1%.
Underlying EBITDA surged 16% to £321m in the grocer’s first half.
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