Morrisons posts £1bn loss as debt interest payments soar

Earlier this year, he said: “I must be very direct. Since the pandemic, Morrisons has not been on peak form.

“Our market share has slipped slowly but consistently, our like-for-likes – although an improving and encouraging trend – have been below the pack for a while and the switching data has not been encouraging.”

His shake-up led to the sudden exit of stores chief David Lepley last month, who left the business after working at Morrisons for nearly eight years.

However, Mr Baitiéh retains the support of Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief who chairs Morrisons and serves as a senior adviser to CD&R.

The US private equity fund recently hired Dave Lewis, another former Tesco boss, as a senior adviser but he is not expected to be involved in operations at Morrisons.

A Morrisons spokesman said: “Morrisons’ financial performance highlights the progress the company has made, delivering six consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth.”

It said statutory profits had been hit by “a number of non-cash items” but stressed that “the underlying performance of the business is strong.”

Morrisons currently holds 8.8pc of the grocery market, according to the latest figures from Kantar, down from 9.1pc last year and compared to 9.4pc held by Aldi.

It recently emerged that Morrisons has hired advisers to explore the potential sale of its Rathbones bakery business, as first reported by The Telegraph.

Deloitte has been drafted in to field interest from potential suitors, although discussions over Rathbones’ future are thought to be at an early stage.

The Rathbones site produces more than 50,000 tonnes of baked products each year, including crumpets, bread rolls and hot cross buns.

Speculation over the potential sale of its manufacturing sites has been persistent for many years, although bosses have recently sought to play down the prospect of this happening.

Since taking over Mr Baitiéh has highlighted the importance of Morrisons’ manufacturing sites.