Waitrose boss James Bailey to leave in September

(Sharecast News) - Waitrose managing director James Bailey is to step down from the supermarket chain later this year, parent company The John Lewis Partnership said on Thursday.

Bailey has been in the post at the upmarket grocery chain since 2020. The announcement comes after former Tesco executive Jason Tarry last year took over as chairman of JLP, which operates the Waitrose and John Lewis department store chains.

The company said it was "working through a process" to find Bailey's successor.

Current Waitrose retail director Tina Mitchell will become managing director on an interim basis when Bailey steps down at the end of September.

"Waitrose is back on a very strong footing with record customer numbers, strong sales growth and a turnaround in profitability, so after five and a half years this feels like the right time to hand over the reins," Bailey said.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com