Asda names ex-Morrisons boss David Potts as chief executive

Asda has appointed former Morrisons chief executive David Potts to run the company with immediate effect, handing him the top job at a chain that only returned to sales growth in August after two years of decline.

The Leeds-based supermarket said Potts would take over as chief executive straight away, while current boss Allan Leighton becomes non-executive chairman. Leighton returned to lead Asda in 2024, more than two decades after first serving as its chief executive, and the company said he had always planned to step back from day-to-day management after stabilising the business.

Potts brings a heavyweight turnaround record. He ran Morrisons from its Bradford headquarters for eight years until 2023, a period in which the grocer was bought by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. Before that, he held three chief executive posts at Tesco: leading its Irish business, its UK arm and its Asian operation.

What does Potts inherit?

A business that has stabilised but hasn't yet accelerated. Problems with an IT upgrade hit product availability last year, denting sales and hurting the bottom line. In August, Asda reported sales had returned to growth for the current quarter — the first time in two years.

Potts said Asda had "made good progress but significant opportunities remain" to reinvigorate sales, with a focus on keeping prices low for shoppers.

"By making improvements to the shopping trip every week, which customers can experience and feel in their pockets, we will revitalise the business and bring benefits for all our stakeholders, including our 116,296 very hard-working colleagues," he said.

That 116,296 figure matters. Potts is signalling that the revival plan runs through stores and staff, not just head office restructuring.

Why is Leighton stepping back?

Leighton, who came back in 2024 to lead the chain he first ran over two decades ago, framed the handover as the planned next phase of a transformation he started.

"Over the last two years, we have stabilised the business and returned it to some growth," Leighton said.

"David has an outstanding record in our industry, his experience is exactly what we now require for the next stage of our transformation and beyond and it will be great to work with him."

The two men won't be strangers to the sector's demands. Both cut their teeth running big-four UK grocers, and Potts's eight-year Morrisons tenure included navigating a private equity takeover — experience that maps closely onto Asda's own situation, given the chain's ownership structure and its need for sustained investment in price and availability.

What happens next?

The immediate priorities are visible in the numbers. Sales growth returned only in the most recent quarter after two years without it, and the botched IT upgrade that damaged shelf availability last year is still fresh in shoppers' memory. Potts's stated formula — weekly, tangible improvements to the shopping trip, with prices shoppers can "feel in their pockets" — suggests a back-to-basics operational push rather than a strategic overhaul.

Leighton stays on as non-executive chairman, so continuity at the top is preserved. The bet Asda's owners are making is simple: a chief executive who has already turned around one struggling northern grocer, working alongside the chairman who steadied this one, can convert two years of stabilisation into durable growth.

If Potts repeats even part of his Morrisons record, Asda's 116,296 colleagues — and its price-sensitive shoppers — will be the first to notice.