Outgoing Morrisons boss urges older people to work as economy struggles

OUTGOING Morrisons boss David Potts is urging older people to get back to work as he looks forward to another full-time challenge.

As the economy struggles with an exodus of middle-aged employees, he said: “Old workers need to do their bit.”

2

The 66-year-old adds: “Working is a great way to meet people and it keeps you fresh and strong.”

Despite earning enough for a happy retirement, he has no plans to stop working.

The Manchester lad joined Tesco at 16, became a store manager at 23, joined the board at 41 and became Morrisons boss at 57.

Although his immediate plans come down to two words — “F*** knows!” — Mr Potts is looking for a full-on, full-time job at executive level.

But he tells The Sun: “It takes two to tango — someone has to want to give me a job.”

After being credited with saving Morrisons from freefall when he joined in 2015, and steering the supermarket through the pandemic, recent trading has been tough.

He admits the store lost momentum after a takeover from Clayton, Dubilier & Rice and a lengthy competition investigation.

He says: “Coming through Covid, the change of ownership and inflation led to us being less competitive.”

Sales are now growing again and he says the budget Savers food range is expanding by 35 per cent year by year to outpace rivals.

He adds: “We’ve learnt from the experience and we can now see the benefits.”

As for the shoplifting crisis, Morrisons is investing heavily in security, including facial recognition tech.

All Mr Potts asks is for people to respect staff. He says: “No one goes to work to get their head kicked in.”

The lessons that took me to the top

AFTER 50 years in retail I know that you can work your way up from a teenager on the shop floor to the top.

I started out as a 14-year-old in a fruit and vegetable shop and two years later I was working on Tesco’s deli counter in Ashton-under-Lyne.

Those were the most formative years of my career: I was handling produce, real cash, serving customers and adding up quickly.

It taught me things that I have since used in every day of my career.

In a rapidly changing industry, technology has been the biggest transformation, from measuring stock, sales and even introducing barcodes to Just Walk Out cash tills and artificial intelligence.

I am proof that you can still join at 16 and get to be chief executive.

At Morrisons we have 18 colleagues who joined at that age and are now some of the most senior people in the business.

Our company and the industry has been a meritocracy and I believe it still is.

Yes, you need to have luck, work hard and know your stuff. Maybe if I hadn’t had such a challenging upbringing I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I did.

But I firmly believe retail offers a lot of variety — you can travel and it is never the same year, in year out because you’re led by consumers and what their trends and needs are.

Three things are important in retail: The first is to improve the business and ensure it caters for the shopping trip and customers.

The second is to take people on that journey of improvement and the third is to learn the values of the business.

Those things are relevant whether you’re starting out or leading.

Boss off at Tesco

MORRISONS isn’t the only supermarket facing a shake-up as Tesco announced yesterday that its long-serving UK boss Jason Tarry is leaving.

Tarry, 56, who has spent the past 33 years at Tesco including six leading its UK business, will leave next March.

Britain’s biggest supermarket said it had hired Matthew Barnes, who recently led Aldi in the UK.

Mr Tarry said: “Tesco has been a wonderful experience.”

The Lever is pulled on wokes

2

UNILEVER’S new boss is toning down its wokeness, saying it could become it an “unwelcome distraction”.

Hein Schumacher said he wants the Dove, Marmite and Magnum maker to focus on a “performance culture” instead.

Unilever has been slammed for unnecessary virtue- signalling.

Mr Schumacher said: “Not every brand should have a social or environmental purpose. We don’t want to force-fit that on brands.”

The firm has been criticised for continuing to sell Magnum ice creams in Russia after many others pulled out over the invasion of Ukraine.

In another move, Mr Schumacher said Unilever was dumping its Dollar Shave Club razor. In a costly 2015 error, it paid $1billion for the business in the hope that direct sales to customers would take off.

It raised prices by another 5.8 per cent in the last three months as sales kept falling.

Yet more dough for Waga

A NEW bid is on the menu for the owner of Wagamama as Pizza Express explores a takeover.

The Restaurant Group (TRG), the firm behind the noodle chain, said it had a request for due diligence information regarding a possible offer from Pizza Express owner Wheel Topco.

The shock move comes just two weeks after TRG accepted a £506million takeover bid from US buyout group Apollo.

Pizza Express’s attempt to gatecrash the deal comes despite Apollo already offering a 67 per cent premium to TRG’s share price and major investors backing the private equity offer.

Pizza Express is run by Paula McKenzie, previously boss of KFC, and chaired by Allan Leighton, who previously chaired Wagamama.

It has been owned by debt funds since 2020.

TRG has struggled since the pandemic and has been the target of a bitter activist investor campaign.

Earlier this month it bowed to activist demands and paid a £7.5million dowry to offload its loss-making Frankie & Benny’s chain to the owner of Cafe Rouge.

Royalties uprising

THE UK-based music royalty fund that owns Fleetwood Mac and Beyonce’s back catalogue has suffered a shareholder revolt, threatening its future.

Hipgnosis Songs Fund said 82.3 per cent of shareholders had voted against its continuation, and blocked a £365million sale of its US song catalogues.

Chairman Andrew Sutch has also been ousted.

It has six months to find survival options. Founder Merck Mercuriadis said it “marks an opportunity to reset”.