A SUPERMARKET chain has hired former Morrisons and Tesco boss David Potts as its new chief executive to help lead revival efforts.
Asda said Mr Potts would take on the role with immediate effect, with current boss Allan Leighton becoming non-executive chairman, two years after he returned to head the firm.
Mr Potts led Morrisons for eight years until 2023 and spearheaded a turnaround at the group, during which time it was bought out by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R).
He was chief executive of Tesco’s Irish business, its UK arm and its Asian operation before joining Morrisons.
Asda said Mr Leighton’s move to step aside from the day-to-day running of the group was planned, after he returned in 2024 to take the helm more than two decades after serving as chief executive.
He joined as Asda – bought by private equity firm TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers in 2020 – battled to turn around sliding sales and a shrinking market share.
Mr Leighton said:“Over the last two years, we have stabilised the business and returned it to some growth and begun to establish Asda as ‘more than a supermarket’ through our Formula for Growth strategy.”
“David has an outstanding record in our industry, his experience is exactly what we now require for the next stage of our transformation and beyond and it will be great to work with him.”
Mr Potts said the firm has “made good progress but significant opportunities remain” to reinvigorate sales, with a focus on keeping prices low for shoppers.
He added:
“By making improvements to the shopping trip every week, which customers can experience and feel in their pockets, we will revitalise the business and bring benefits for all our stakeholders, including our 116,296 very hard-working colleagues.”
“Christmas is upon us and the business has a clear focus on keeping Asda prices locked low at this important time for our customers.”
Asda – the UK’s third largest supermarket chain – has been aggressively cutting prices in a bid to restore its fortunes.
This, together with a botched IT upgrade last year which hit product availability and dented sales, impacted its bottom line last year.
Financial accounts showed the firm tumbled to a £989 million pre-tax loss for 2025, widened from losses of £599 million a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings were also down 33% to £761 million for the year, partly due to its Asda Price and Rollback price investment.
But in August, it reported that sales returned to growth for the current quarter for the first time in two years.
Like-for-like sales for the first seven weeks of the third quarter, excluding fuel, rose by 0.2%.
The Leeds-based chain notched up revenues of £5.1 billion for the second quarter of 2026, when like-for-like sales fell 2.3%, with food sales down 1.9% for the period.
Mr Leighton said at the time that he believed the group was roughly a third of the way through the turnaround process.