Marc Bolland

The suave Dutchman was the darling of the City after Christmas when he strode ahead of both Tesco and Asda to report like-for-likes, excluding petrol, up 8.2 per cent for the six weeks to January 4 – and helped the grocer receive the prestigious Retailer of the Year for the second year running at the Oracle Retail Week Awards. His insightful and humorous acceptance speech impressed even compère Jimmy Carr, who likened him to “someone from a James Bond film”.

Bolland has kept Morrisons true to its heritage, and its commitment to value and fresh food helped it win an extra 2.2 million customers over Christmas. While the grocer trails the other big four in terms of non-food, it is relaunching 500 of its home and leisure lines to make non-food work harder. Morrisons does not have the space for extensive non-food lines, but Bolland wants to up its game in the ranges that it does have, such as cookware and dinner party goods.

With no presence online or internationally either, Bolland has plenty options for future growth. But in the meantime, he is enjoying sticking to Morrisons’ knitting.