Supermarket boss

Born: 20 October 20, 1931;

Died: February 1, 2017

SIR Ken Morrison, who has died aged 85, was the formidable supermarket boss who helped grow Morrisons from the small grocery chain established by his father into one of the UK's largest retailers. In 2004, he oversaw the £3bn takeover of rival Safeway, which radically transformed the market in Scotland, where Safeway was at one time the nation's favourite supermarket.

Sir Ken first joined Morrisons when he finished national service in 1952 and four years later became chairman and managing director, although he relinquished the latter role in 1997.

His association with the company had started before the Second World War when, aged nine, he helped his father on his Bradford market stall while not at Bradford Grammar School.

Later, it was under Sir Ken’s leadership that Morrisons opened its first town-centre shop in 1958 and first supermarket in 1961, both in Bradford.

In 1967, Sir Ken led Morrisons on to the stock market in London in a share offer which was 174 times oversubscribed as more than 80,000 investors tried to buy a stake.

Expansion across the North of England continued and in 1998 Morrisons opened its first store in the South of England - in Erith, Kent - before opening its 100th store in its centenary year in 1999.

After 35 years of sales and profits growth since going public, Morrisons joined the FTSE 100 Index of the UK's leading stocks in April 2001.

But just three years later it ran into trouble with an ambitious but ill-fated £3billion takeover of Safeway. In Scotland, Morrisons went from owning two stores to 59 practically overnight.

Although the deal gave Morrisons 5.5 million new customers and significantly boosted its stores, it was followed by a string of profit warnings, the company's first-ever annual loss and a plunging share price.

Problems with integrating the two companies put Sir Ken under pressure from shareholders and fellow directors to announce plans for his succession and hand over the recovery of the supermarket to a new boss. But he managed to turn around the group's fortunes and retired on a high note, presenting a record profits haul in his last set of annual results as chairman in 2008.

The chain has since faced challenges and Sir Ken pulled no punches in taking his successors to task. He infamously described former Morrisons boss Dalton Philips's strategy as "bulls**t" in 2014, as the then-chief executive faced intense pressure amid sliding sales and a fierce supermarket price war.

Speaking after Mr Philips' presentation to investors, Sir Ken said he had been raising cattle since leaving work and added: "I have something like 1,000 bullocks and, having listened to your presentation, Dalton, you've got a lot more bulls**t than me. The results were described by the chairman and chief executive as disappointing. I personally thought they were disastrous."

The dispute with Sir Ken was understood to stem from the Morrison family's desire for the company to focus on its core supermarket business, and the board's desire to build its business online and in the convenience store format.

Sir Ken was later complementary about the current management team and its turnaround efforts, reportedly saying last summer that they were "on the right track", although he added there was still "a long way to go".

Sir Ken, who was one of Yorkshire's richest men, was awarded the CBE in 1990 and was knighted in 2000 for services to the food retailing industry. He stood down as chairman of Morrisons in 2008.

Andrew Higginson, chairman of Morrisons, said: "I know that I speak for the whole company when I say how profoundly sad we were to hear of Sir Ken's death.

"He was an inspirational leader and the driving force behind Morrisons for over half a century. Although he retired several years ago, his legacy is evident every day and in every aspect of our business.

"Taking Morrisons from a small Bradford-based family business to a major UK grocery retailing chain is an outstanding achievement in the history of UK business."

His family’s statement said: “To us he was a greatly committed and loving family man, as inspirational and central to us in our daily lives as he was in the business.

“His drive and ambition, quick intelligence and encyclopaedic knowledge were matched with a real curiosity in his fellow man. He had a gentle humour and kindness about him and he could, and would, talk with genuine interest to anyone.

“He showed us all the importance of aiming high but never forgetting the practicalities of life and the humanity of those we deal with. A proud Yorkshireman, he never forgot his roots and had a real love for, and commitment to, the people and city of Bradford.”

Sir Ken is survived by his wife Lynne, three daughters, two sons and five grandchildren.