SUPERMARKET boss Sir Ken Morrison bowed to shareholder pressure yesterday with a boardroom shake-up.

As Morrisons disappointed the City with its results, the company said it would appoint a chief executive for the first time and replace its finance director, after a profits warning last week led to calls for the Bradford-based company to overhaul its management structure.

Sir Ken will remain as executive chairman, while independent director David Jones becomes his deputy.

Sir Ken said he believed Morrisons now had the team to deliver the full benefits of the Safeway acquisition.

The takeover, which saw Morrisons pay more than £3bn for its larger rival, left its mark on annual results, which showed bottom-line profits fell to £297.1m, from £319.9m a year earlier.

Anthony Platts, of investment management firm Wise Speke, said: "We always said that integrating Safeway into the Morrisons format was going to be easier said than done. To be fair though, those Safeway stores already converted are performing well financially. The point, however, is that this is only an improvement on how they were faring before in the previous fascia above the door as Safeway's and Morrisons' sales techniques differ so much.

"His 50 years of running the business has been impressive, but taking on such a different business in Safeway and trying to run it on the tried-and-tested Morrison methods, has not pleased everybody.

"The major worry for the City is now the core business, with sales down more than one per cent since Christmas."