Richard Pennycook joined Morrisons in 2005 after botched Safeway integration triggered five profit warnings and first loss

The long-serving finance director of Morrisons, who steered the Bradford-based grocer back from the financial abyss when the takeover of Safeway led to a collapse in profits, is leaving.

Richard Pennycook, who was overlooked as chief executive two years ago, said he would step down from the board next summer with a view to a “building a portfolio career”. Pennycook joined Morrisons in 2005 to pick up the pieces after the botched integration of the Safeway chain triggered five profit warnings and the first loss in the company’s history.

The departure of the highly regarded executive, who was also responsible for strategy and business areas such as IT and the internet, comes at a tough time for Morrisons’ chief executive, Dalton Philips. The supermarkets are battling for custom as the squeeze on disposable incomes sees households shop around for the best deals and cut back on the number of groceries they buy.

At the company’s recent AGM, Morrisons’ founder, Sir Ken Morrison, complained that the supermarket, which used to be famous for its “no frills” approach to groceries, was moving too upmarket and risked alienating its most loyal customers. Market share data from Kantar Worldpanel showed Morrisons’ sales growth ground to a halt in the 12 weeks to 10 June, the weakest performance of the so-called big four supermarkets.

But Pennycook, 47, missed out on the top job at Morrisons twice, with the board selecting Marc Bolland to replace Bob Stott in 2006. He is working his 12-months notice and stands to collect a bonus, worth £1.2m based on Monday’s share price, in March. The award of 456,000 shares was made after Philips’ appointment to secure his services for at least another two years. “This was a difficult decision, but by the time I leave next year I will have been with Morrisons for over eight years and I feel that it’s the right time to seek new challenges,” said Pennycook.

He joined Morrisons from the breakdown recovery firm RAC, but previously specialised in company turnarounds. He spent a year at Hereford cider group HP Bulmer, which was sold to Scottish & Newcastle, and before that led the restructuring of both Welcome Break and Laura Ashley. He is understood to be keen to return to this sphere.

Morrisons’ chairman, Sir Ian Gibson, said Pennycook had done an “outstanding job” and had played an “increasing strategic role in the last few years”. The search for a successor would commence in short order, the company said. The shares closed down 3.6p at 264.8p.

After Tesco’s profit warning in January, which was blamed on the poor performance, its chief executive Philip Clarke has turned up the heat on the competition with a blitz of money-off coupons and price cuts. he told the Consumer Goods Forum in Istanbul Tesco was “turning Clubcard digital”, correlating loyalty card information on what shoppers buy with feeds from social networks, mobile phone data and payment methods to help build a fuller picture of its shoppers’ spending habits. The move would enable Tesco to “get to know our customers better still, and use that understanding to deliver an even more personalised offer”, said Clarke who said one outcome would be personalised promotions when a shopper browses its website.