Asda chief confirms his successor

Asda’s chief executive confirmed plans to step down late on Monday, as the US-owned supermarket continues to flounder among the ‘Big Four’.

The supermarket - owned by US retail behemoth Walmart - sits at number three among the UK’s leading grocers, behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s but ahead of Morrisons.

It slipped behind its orange-hued rival in the last year, continuing to hemorrhage market share as its competitors claw back from a tough few years.

Andy Clarke, who has led the grocer through attempts to claw back market share from the other large rivals, as well as the German limited-assortment discounters Aldi and Lidl, said he will be succeeded by incoming chief operating officer Roger Burnley.

Burnley is joining the company in October, with Clarke saying he will spend time with Burnley before formally handing over the reins.

“I said that I wanted to find somebody who had the ability to be my successor and it took us some time to find the right person, the right cultural fit, the right sort of character and leader that can run the business,” Clarke told Retail Week.

“He [Burnley] is a great leader and he’s going to be a great colleague.”

Asda nabbed Burnley from Sainsbury’s in 2015, where he led retail and operations.

He came with some prior experience from Asda, where he was supply chain director during the Walmart acquisition from 1996 to 2002.

Clarke did not give any sort of time frame for his departure, saying he is in “no rush” to move on.

Asda posted another heavy slump in sales in May - its seventh consecutive quarter of declines - as it reiterated its focus on a £500m investment in price cuts, dubbed Project Renewal.

Last week, chief executive of Walmart International Dave Cheesewright indicated the company’s interest in even further price cuts, saying the company was seeking to “shift the balance in Asda from protecting profit to protecting share”.