Breakfast briefing: Retail news on Morrisons and Marks & Spencer

Food industry expert to join Morrisons’ board

Morrisons has appointed Neil Davidson to its board, effective October 1.

He will become chairman of the retailer’s corporate compliance and responsibility committee, replacing Penny Hughes who is stepping down as a non-executive after six years.

The move comes as the embattled grocer seeks to revive its relationships with dairy farmers, having been among the supermarkets targeted during protests about the retail cost of milk.

Davidson, a food industry veteran, formerly worked at various supermarket suppliers, including as chief executive of Express Dairies and Arla Foods, both of which are suppliers to Morrisons.

M&S irks male customers with shorter zips

Clothing chain Marks & Spencer has shortened the length of the zip by an inch in its £30 chinos trousers, irking its male clients.

A spokesman for the retailer admitted that a small batch of chinos was affected.

“We had a very small number of customer complaints,” he said. “We addressed this quickly and the zips are now back to the standard length.”