Sir Ken Morrison has given his seal of approval to the grocer’s new management team amid a shareholder revolt over Dalton Philip’s £3m payout.

  • Sir Ken Morrison gives new board his support at the grocer’s AGM in Bradford
  • A third of shareholders left angered by decision to give former boss Dalton Philips a £3m bonus

Sir Ken hit the headlines at last year’s AGM when he dramatically slammed then chief executive Dalton Philips, calling his presentation “bullshit”. Sir Ken was referring to the cattle he keeps on his farm and claimed Philips produced more dung than the herd.

But yesterday Morrison’s life president gave new chief executive David Potts and chairman Andy Higginson his full support at the grocer’s AGM, according to the Evening Standard.

Sir Ken told shareholders to give the new Morrisons team time to “restore the company to its glory days”.

However, Morrisons suffered a shareholder protest vote against the grocer’s decision to award Philips a £3m payout, despite presiding over the grocer during a period of sustained profit declines.

The resolution was passed but a third of shareholders voted against the decision.

Tills

It was also revealed that all self-scan tills will be replaced with staffed express tills by Christmas 2015, in the grocer’s continued bid to improve customer service.

In April the new chief executive said he planned to re-introduce the staffed tills in a bid to improve footfall and sales.