Loblaw COO named CEO of U.K. chain Morrisons

Toronto

Dalton Phillips, COO of Loblaw Cos., is leaving the company to take the chief executive position at British grocer Wm. Morrison Supermarkets, according to a report by Supermarket News.

Phillips, a former executive at Wal-Mart in South America and Germany, had served at Loblaw for more than three years.

"Food retail today is a very global business and the work that we are doing at Loblaw is highly visible around the retail world," Allen Leighton, Loblaw's deputy chairman, said in a statement late Wednesday. "Dalton's appointment is a reflection of this and the progress that we are seen to have made."

According to the report, Phillips is expected to stay with Loblaw through the end of March. His duties at the company initially will be fulfilled by several current Loblaw executives.

The company has not commented on a timetable to name a permanent replacement.