Mohsin Issa’s departure hammers home need for Asda CEO

If column inches were a deciding factor in the power of supermarket leadership, Asda’s beleaguered co-owner Mohsin Issa would be sitting on the top of the pile by now.

Issa has rarely been out of the news since the TDR-backed takeover in 2021. Sadly, all too often, it has been for the wrong reasons: the unusual leadership structure following its sale by Walmart, and the rumoured feud with his brother Zuber.

Today, it was confirmed Mohsin, the remaining half of the billionaire duo with a hand on the Asda tiller, is to finally step aside after months of speculation. In many ways, it’s no surprise at all – yet it still feels like a seismic moment.

Legendary former M&S boss and Asda chair Stuart Rose will step in to take control of the ship, alongside TDR partner Rob Hattrell. It’s almost as if Asda has voluntarily gone into special measures, just as we approach the vital golden quarter.

And still the search continues for a CEO, three years after Roger Burnley’s departure. Following Issa’s announcement, Asda will surely hope qualified candidates will feel they can come in and operate without undue interference.

Issa’s situation, already precarious to say the least, became even more so after Rose admitted he had been left “embarrassed” by Asda’s performance under his watch, indicating its co-founder should step back.

Sources at Asda claim those comments were taken out of context, in what was a much more rounded verdict on Issa’s leadership and the state of play at the supermarket. And to be fair to Issa, any boss would have struggled with the huge task of taking over ownership of Asda from Walmart.

An earlier-than-planned departure

Issa had previously vowed to stay on until the completion of Asda’s Project Future, a detangling of IT systems from Walmart that was billed as Europe’s largest IT transformation project. 

But circumstances have dictated that he steps back earlier. Notably, Zuber Issa has declared his intention to step down as co-CEO of EG Group, in a deal that completes this month. That means Mohsin is having to act as sole CEO of that hardly insubstantial business.

It’s a frankly impossible task – something he should arguably have realised far earlier.

CEO vacancy

Meanwhile, sales figures from NIQ this week show just how badly Asda needs a steady hand. It was the only big supermarket to experience a fall in sales for the three months to 7 September, by 5.5%. 

In July, Asda pledged tens of millions of pounds towards a reset strategy to improve the standards, service and performance of its stores. But the measures have not yet had the sort of impact needed to turn the tide, and have been constantly overshadowed by leadership questions.

In Rose, Asda has one of the shining lights of UK grocery. If he had been a few years younger, he would have been just the person for the CEO role.

Finding someone with the track record and the guts to take on that job becomes more important with every day that goes by.