Asda chief executive Roger Burnley to step down following £6.8bn takeover

The grocer said Burnley would step away once the business had “fully transitioned to new ownership” and a successor had been put in place. 

The retailer said the search for Burnley’s replacement would “commence shortly” and focus on appointing a chief executive “who is able to commit to leading the business over the long term”.

Burnley joined Asda in 2016 as deputy chief executive and replaced Sean Clarke as CEO of the Leeds-based grocer in 2018. 

The former Sainsbury’s executive said that while he remained fully committed to leading the business for the next year, now was the right time to plan for his departure. 

“My decision to leave Asda is personal and something I wanted to communicate to my colleagues as soon as I could. Whilst I remain fully committed to leading this great business for the next year and delivering our strategy, it is right to plan for a managed succession process well in advance,” he said.

“It has been a great privilege to play a leading role at Asda over the last five years – putting in place a clear strategy for long-term sustainable growth and doing the right things for our customers, colleagues and the communities we serve.”

Burnley’s tenure at the grocer has been almost entirely overshadowed by questions over its ownership. The year he was promoted to the top job, Walmart struck a £15bn deal to merge the business with Sainsbury’s, which sparked an ultimately futile, year-long push to get approval from the Competitions and Market Authority (CMA). 

He follows former Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe and Tesco boss Dave Lewis who have both stepped away in the last year. 

Despite benefiting from the effects of the pandemic on consumers, Asda reported the weakest like-for-like sales growth of the big-four grocers last year and lost market share. 

Former majority stakeholder Walmart announced it had reached an agreement with new owners the Issa brothers and TDR Capital for the £6.8bn sale of Asda last autumn.

The brothers and TDR have since satisfied all conditions related to the deal and are awaiting final confirmation from the CMA.