Malcolm Walker pledges Iceland turnaround
Founder ready to take on the competition
Malcolm Walker, founder of the Iceland frozen food chain, is confident he can lead a turnaround of the underperforming business when he reassumes control in February.
Walker, who is part of the consortium which has tabled a 95p a share recommended offer for Big Food Group, said the tough market which has held back the Iceland chain’s sales growth is nothing new. He told the BBC: “I think it was tough when I was there. We had problems – it wasn’t plain sailing, it was a roller coaster ride each year. Competitive pressures don’t abate.”
The consortium buying Big Food is led by retail group Baugur. With the Big Food board recommending the offer, Walker said he is confident shareholder’s will support the bid. The plan is for Iceland to then be sold to a separate business owned by IceCo, in which Baugur, Walker and other consortium members will have a stake. The new management team led by Walker, Andrew Pritchard and Tarsem Dhaliwal, will run and develop the Iceland business.
Walker left Iceland four years ago, following its sale to Big Food and amidst allegations of insider trading. After a long investigation, he was fully cleared by the Serious Fraud Office in October. Under his stewardship, he said Iceland “was a great business that generated profits for 29 out of 30 years”. Of its current situation, he said: “I don’t know what I’m going to find when I walk in. As an outsider, I’d say that maybe they’ve lost focus.”
Although Baugur will be the majority owner, Walker said his team would be in control on a day-to-day basis. “We’ll have the freedom to get on with it, and if we can’t turn it around, we’ll move on.”
