Supermarket chain Wm Morrison has appointed three new non-executive directors in a bid to end a long-running row with investors, the Reuters news agency reports.
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Chairman Ken Morrison, credited with building Morrison into Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket chain, effectively ran the company as a one-man show and spent little time wooing investors until the integration of Safeway Plc, bought in early 2004, proved more costly than he anticipated, Reuters said.
Morrison first appointed non-executive directors in May 2004 and one of those, Duncan Davidson, quit in March. The new non-executive directors are Brian Flanagan, Susan Murray and Nigel Robertson. Brian Flanagan worked for the Mars Corp. for 26 years, Morrison said.
Susan Murray, a former chief executive of Littlewoods Stores Ltd, is a non-executive director of SSL International Plc, Enterprise Inns Plc, and Imperial Tobacco Group Plc. Nigel Robertson helped establish Ocado, an on-line grocery shopping operation in partnership with John Lewis’s Waitrose, having held senior positions in the food division of Marks & Spencer Plc.
Ken Morrison had said he regarded non-executive directors as a waste of money. But he promised to appoint some after the takeover of Safeway to move in line with accepted best practice.
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By GlobalDataThe company also said Chairman Ken Morrison and Deputy Chairman David Jones were interviewing more candidates for non-executives and expected to make a further announcement within four weeks.
