Sainsbury's longest serving director, Robin Whitbread, is leaving the company after being passed over in a restructure in which the supermarket created two new assistant managing director posts. Sainsbury CEO Sir Peter Davis said: "Robin Whitbread is disappointed not to have been offered one of these positions and will step down as retail director and leave the group board in the autumn." Whitbread, who has been with the company 32 years, will remain at Sainsbury until October and see out his term as president of the National Grocers' Benevolent Fund, according to his office. A spokeswoman said: "He will stay to help in its transitional period. He is upset that the decision on the appointment of the assistant managing directors did not go his way." Marketing director Sara Weller and trading board director Stuart Mitchell were both promoted to assistant managing director in the restructure, reporting direct to Sir Peter. Mitchell will have overall responsibility for retail, trading and supply chain. Weller, who joined Sainsbury from Abbey National in 1999, takes on strategic planning, formats and Sainsbury Bank in addition to her marketing role. The announcement of the restructure came as Davis delivered an "encouraging" trading statement for the 12 weeks to June 23. Sainsbury's total sales were up 8.6%, with like-for-like sales growth of 6.0%, excluding petrol. And Sainsbury's US chain Shaw's saw sales up 7.2%, with like for like sales growth of 3.8%. But Davis warned like-for-like sales would be affected later in the year by disruption caused by a stepping up of the store refurb programme. - Sainsbury has appointed a new human resources director, Imelda Walsh. She will be supported by Jackie Watson in the new post of talent director, responsible for resourcing, career planning and a development programme for senior management and colleagues. Both are due to join in September. {{NEWS }}

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