Ex-Morrisons director calls for overhaul of board
ONE OF Morrisons’ former longstanding directors has hit out at the management of Britain’s fourth largest supermarket and called for its chairman to resign.
Roger Owen, Morrisons’ property director for 22 years until his retirement in 2009, has accused the retailer of poor governance, criticising the structure of the board for having just two executive directors.
In an interview with the Yorkshire Post, Owen compared the supermarket chain to “a supertanker heading towards an iceberg” and urged Sir Ian Gibson, Morrisons’ chairman since 2008, to step down at the next annual general meeting in June.
He also raised concerns over the future profitability of group’s online business and questioned its roll-out of convenience stores.
His comments come after the retailer last month revealed a 13 per cent slump in profit and warned that underlying profit would halve this year as it ploughs money into price cuts to win back customers. Owen called into question CEO Dalton Philips’ role at the company, saying should have resigned two years ago.
Morrisons responded saying his comments were unwelcome.