Asda has confirmed today (20 June) that chief operating officer Simon King has left the company.

A spokesperson for Wal-Mart Stores’ UK arm said King had “considerable talents and retail experience” but the company “felt his impact wasn’t being realised as quickly as we hoped”.

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“Sometimes it just doesn’t work out,” the spokesperson told just-food.

King joined the company from Turkish supermarket and hypermarket operator Panda Retail in November last year. He succeeded Andy Clarke, who was appointed as Asda’s CEO.

Before joining Panda Retail in 2009, King was CEO of Tesco’s Turkish arm Tesco Kipa.

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