Metcash joins British invasion with Jeff Adams appointment

The nation’s $90bn supermarket wars have a fresh combatant in the form of new Metcash chief executive Jeff Adams.

The nation’s $90 billion supermarket wars have a fresh combatant in the form of new Metcash chief executive Jeff Adams, and like his rivals heading Woolworths and Coles he has also been drafted in from the cutthroat British supermarket sector.

Mr Adams is a former Tesco executive with international experience.

He will succeed outgoing Metcash boss Ian Morrice, who last month announced his intention to leave the independent grocery and liquor wholesaler.

Metcash’s supermarket brands include IGA and Foodland.

Over a 20-year period, Mr Adams has held a number of senior roles with Tesco.

He was the chief executive of Tesco Kipa in Turkey, boss of Tesco Lotus in Thailand, as well as retail operations director of Fresh & Easy in the US. Mr Adams was also a director of Tesco Express in Britain.

He will step into one of the more ferocious grocery sectors in the world. Leading chains Woolworths and Coles are battling for customer loyalty, with disrupters such as German discounter Aldi and US warehouse format Costco also vying for market share.

And it is increasingly to Britain that boardrooms are looking to fill senior executive ranks.

Earlier this year Woolworths appointed Tesco veteran Claire Peters as its new head of supermarkets. She began at Woolworths this week.

John Durkan, the boss of Coles, worked for 17 years with Safeway Stores in Britain, while his predecessor and the first boss of Coles under Wesfarmers ownership, Ian McLeod, once worked for Asda.

Wesfarmers turned to Archie Norman, the man who is credited for turning Asda around, to be its key adviser as it acquired and transformed Coles 10 years ago.

Metcash chairman Rob Murray said yesterday that Mr Adams’s track record in difficult retail market conditions made him a standout candidate.

“Jeff has a lifelong passion for the retail industry and is ideally suited to lead the company’s ­continued focus on ensuring the competitiveness and success of independent retailers,’’ he said.

Mr Adams will join Metcash in September and work with Mr Morrice to ensure a smooth transition before taking over as CEO in December. Mr Morrice will remain as an adviser to the board and Mr Adams until June next year.

Mr Adams will be on a salary of $1.8 million along with $1.2m in short-term incentives and another $1.2m of long-term incentives, payable over a number of years.