The appointment of Trevor Strain as the new chief operating officer at Morrisons is likely to ensure the Bradford-based retailer has a bright future ahead.
As analysts were quick to point out, Strain's second promotion in 13 months puts him in 'pole position' to take over from CEO David Potts, should the latter step down some time in the future.
Road To Retail
Strain began his career at Arthur Andersen LLP, now known as Accenture. Like Potts, he is a former Tesco man, having worked for the retailer in a number of roles, including as UK property finance director and UK planning and reporting finance director.
Strain joined Morrisons in 2009 as a commercial and operations finance director, before becoming finance director corporate in 2011, and taking on responsibility for the group's productivity programmes.
He joined the Morrisons board as chief financial officer in April 2013, but arguably his most significant position with the firm was at the start of 2015, when he stepped in as interim chief executive at the business following the departure of Dalton Phillips.
At the time, Morrisons was reeling from what company founder Sir Ken Morrison had labelled a "disastrous" set of results, with like-for-like sales dropping 5.9% and underlying pre-tax profits down 52%.
Potts was installed as CEO in March of that year, and set about turning around the flagging fortunes of the Bradford-based grocer, with Strain, as well as commercial director Darren Blackhurst, providing amiable assistance by his side.
Last year, Strain took over from Blackhurst as commercial director, with the move welcomed by analysts as a continuation of the positive strides the business had made since the mid part of the decade.
Text Book Transformation
As Clive Black of Shore Capital put it in a briefing note in October 2018, following Strain's promotion, "In our view Morrison has executed a text book transformation under Mr Potts, manifested in a structurally stronger business, and a robust financial output for shareholders, noting our expectation for recurring special capital return.
"That self-improvement is an output of a more streamlined and capable management team, where empowerment and responsibility are to the fore. We see the ongoing evolution of the senior team at Morrisons, therefore, as a continuum of the strategy set out by Mr Potts, perhaps with even greater pace and focus too, one continuing to embrace capability, development and succession."
That question of succession has now re-emerged with Strain's latest promotion, putting him one step away from the top job at the retailer.
Management Development
Commenting earlier this week on Strain's appointment as COO, as well as the appointment of trading director Michael Gleeson as the retailer's new finance chief, Potts said, "These two appointments are a result of strong management development plans at Morrisons and I am delighted that we are promoting two highly capable colleagues from within the team.
"Trevor is a proven and outstanding business leader who has played a pivotal role in the ongoing Morrisons turnaround," he added.
And with the group's share price seeing a positive bump on the back of the news, the industry seems to believe he will continue to do so.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
