Morrisons appoints Peter Batt as convenience operations director

Morrisons has appointed Peter Batt as operations director for its company-owned convenience business.

Batt has more than 30 years’ experience in the food sector, including senior roles at Sainsbury’s, the Co-op Group and Nisa Retail.

He was most recently managing director of Nisa Retail, working with 4,000 locations, and served on the boards of the Association of Convenience Stores and the Federation of Wholesale Distributors.

Before that, Batt spent a decade at the Co-op Group as divisional managing director, responsible for more than 1,200 stores. He began his career at Sainsbury’s, where he held senior posts in operations, commercial and convenience.

The news comes after Morrisons recently saw its like-for-like sales grow by 3.0% in its third quarter, despite rising inflation and “challenging” macroeconomic conditions, marking the eleventh consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth. 

Over the period, total sales rose by 3.5% to £4.0bn, bolstered by a strong online performance which saw double-digit like-for-like growth, making Morrisons the fastest growing online grocery business in the market in Q3.

In its latest update, the group said it was looking to support customers amid continued food price inflation through recently announced price cuts on 650 everyday items alongside tailored promotions.

It has also introduced over 400 new products this week with the roll-out of new Fresh ranges, marking the “biggest range reset in a decade”.

Elsewhere, it said it has reduced costs by £63m over the period, and expects to achieve £1bn in cost savings by the end of FY26.