One of Morrisons' former longstanding directors says that it is time for the senior management of Britain's fourth largest grocer to step aside.
Roger Owen, who was Morrisons’ property director for 22 years until his retirement in 2009, claims that the supermarket chain is "heading toward an iceberg", due to what he believes to be poor governance.
Owen is particularly critical of the structure of the board for having just two executive directors. In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, he called for chairman Sir Ian Gibson to resign while stating that chief executive Dalton Philips is “out of his depth”.
Morrisons has been battling a falling market share (as have rivals Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda) as Aldi and Lidl snap up cash-conscious shoppers and Waitrose corners the middle class.
Of Gibson he remarked that “he should not be putting himself forward for re-election. If he does put himself forward, I hope sincerely that he is going to be voted off the board.”
Owen's comments come after Morrisons last month recorded a £176 million pre-tax loss for the year and a 2.8% drop in like-for-like sales.
A Morrisons spokesperson responded to the comments, saying that they were "unhelpful and unwelcome".
“He (Roger Owen) might be better served taking more of a thoughtful view of his role as a director of a board that left Morrisons, uniquely among the big grocers, with no online and no convenience offer," the spokesperson said.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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