Morrisons poaches incoming Asda exec in blow to turnaround push

Andrew Staniland hailed as an ‘exceptional talent’ after snubbing rival supermarket

Morrisons has poached a senior grocery chief who was due to join Asda next year in a blow to Lord Rose’s efforts to turnaround the Leeds supermarket chain.
Morrisons said Andrew Staniland will join in early February as its group trading director and will sit on its executive committee.
Rami Baitieh, Morrisons chief executive, said Mr Staniland was an “exceptional talent”, adding that he had a “very strong record” at rival grocers.
Mr Staniland most recently held the role of group buying director at Iceland Foods, and also has held senior posts at Aldi and Waitrose, as well as at Morrisons.
The announcement will, however, be seen as a snub for Asda which had this summer unveiled Mr Staniland as its new vice president.
Asda had charged Mr Staniland with leading its fresh and frozen division. He was expected to join in March next year as part of a wider leadership shake-up.
His appointment was viewed as a coup for Asda, given Mr Staniland’s years of experience in the grocery sector and no-nonsense approach.
He had been lined up by Asda to replace its commercial director, Paul Gillow, who left in July amid a slew of senior departures from the troubled supermarket.
The news that Mr Staniland has now decided to go to Morrisons instead will come as a fresh blow to Asda, which has struggled with falling sales and fierce competition from German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Lord Rose, Asda’s chairman, earlier this year admitted that he was “embarrassed” by the supermarket’s decline under his leadership and ownership of the billionaire Issa brothers.
Asda’s share of the grocery market has fallen from 14.8pc to 12.6pc since its takeover by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity giant TDR Capital.
Lord Rose, the former M&S boss, has taken over day-to-day running of Asda while the supermarket finds a replacement for Mohin Issa, who stepped down as chief executive in September.
Asda last week announced plans to spend another £13m on increasing staff hours by the end of the year to improve customer service.
However, The Telegraph revealed that the supermarket was also considering further lay-offs across its IT department.
This was despite it coming under fire for making 500 head office staff redundant last week without a consultation period.
Asda has been making a series of senior hires in an attempt to spur turnaround efforts, including poaching Morrisons’s supply chain director Lauren Lepley and M&S’s asset protection director Mark Henry.
Morrisons’ swoop for Mr Staniland comes as the supermarket undergoes its own ambitious turnaround plans. Mr Staniland previously worked for the supermarket chain as buyer and buying manager between 2012 and 2016.
Asda declined to comment.