British grocer Sainsburys poached a top executive from rival Marks & Spencer as its new boss today as the company struggles to kick-start sales despite billions of pounds of investment.
Mr Justin King, head of Marks and Spencer's food business, is to become chief executive from March 2004. Mr King, who had been widely tipped for the job, spent seven years at another rival Asda, and is well regarded in the industry.
His appointment lifted Sainsbury's shares 2.1 per cent to 291 pence, compared to a 0.7-per cent decline by the DJ Stoxx European consumer non-cyclicals index.
Mr King will replace Mr Peter Davis, who steps up on March 29th to become chairman, a role he will hold until July 2005.
News of Mr King's appointment was released with Sainsbury's interim results, which showed pre-tax profit for the six months to October 11th up seven per cent at £366 million excluding exceptional items and goodwill, compared with analyst forecasts of £356 to £365 million.
Turnover rose one per cent to £9.84 billion and the interim dividend was raised 2.5 per cent to 4.33 pence a share.
Mr King is the latest in a string of ex-Asda executives poached by rivals for their top retailing skills. He will be paid a salary of £675,000 and receive compensation totalling£685,000 in shares for loss of earnings from M&S.