Morrisons, a UK supermarket, appoints a former Carrefour France executive as CEO.

Rami Baitiéh, previously the head of Carrefour France, has been named the next chief executive of the British grocery chain Morrisons, taking over for the retiring nine-year incumbent David Potts.

Morrisons announced on Wednesday that Baitiéh will start in the position in November and collaborate with Potts throughout a transitional period.

Though its performance has recently fallen behind significant rivals, Potts oversaw a turnaround at the Bradford, England, northern England-based corporation, guided it through the pandemic, and enlarged its convenience store sector with the acquisition of McColl’s.

In his more than 25 years with the French company, Baitiéh, who revealed his resignation from Carrefour in the month of August, improved competitiveness, increased market share, and accelerated expansion, according to Morrisons.

In 2021, American private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier, and Rice acquired Morrisons for seven billion pounds ($8.5 billion). This resulted in a significant debt load for it, which is now at 5.4 billion pounds.
With just under 9% of the UK grocery market, the business stands apart from its main competitors by having its own production facilities, which enable it to produce more than half of the fresh foods it offers.

According to monthly industry data, Morrisons trails competitors Tesco (TSCO.L), the market leader, and Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L), which is ranked second. By market share, German-owned discounter Aldi surpassed Morrisons last year to become Britain’s fourth-largest supermarket, according to research firm Kantar.

Terry Leahy, a senior advisor at CD&R, stated that Rami “will bring his enthusiasm, creativity, and commitment to growing Morrisons loyalty programs and digital reach” while making sure the company’s strong history of excellence and purpose to give value for customers are protected.

Morrisons provided a report on its third quarter sales through July 30 on Wednesday, and it revealed an upward trend.
After increasing 1% in the prior quarter, it said that underlying sales increased by 2.9%. It also maintained its forecast that the full year’s core revenue, or EBITDA, will surpass the 828 millions pounds generated in 2021–2022. Debt is also anticipated to decrease year over year.

Morrisons said that by keeping price increases below those of the broader market and enhancing its reward program, it was becoming more competitive. This year has already seen cost savings of almost 200 million pounds.

“Although prices has been painfully high, there have been some very welcomed recent indications of a reduction in inflation pressures,” said finance minister Jo Goff.