Morrisons has appointed Tesco veteran Andrew Higginson as its next chairman.

Higginson will take over on 1 October following the retirement of Sir Ian Gibson, amid speculation that his arrival could pose problems for the beleagured current chief executive, Dalton Philips.

Higginson spent 15 years on the Tesco board during years of rapid growth, as finance director and later as chief executive of the retailer's online and bank divisions. He left in 2012, shortly after previous Tesco boss Sir Terry Leahy.

He is currently chairman of home shopping group N Brown. On Tuesday (29 July) he stepped down as chairman of the recently floated Poundland when his new role at Morrisons was announced.

Poundland's senior independent director and former Sainsbury's finance chief Darren Shapland replaces him.

Higginson joins Morrisons amid a continuing sales slump. The latest Kantar Worldpanel data shows that Morrisons now has an 11 per cent share of the market, down from 11.6 per cent a year ago.

It posted an annual loss of £176 million in the year to February, and in June announced it was cutting 2,600 jobs as part of a drive to modernise the way its stores were managed.

Morrisons has said it is investing £1 billion over three years as it cuts prices to compete, and its online shopping platform is growing in size and scale.

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