Andy Bond leaves Asda in better shape than when he took over.

Today’s news of Andy Bond stepping down as chief executive of Asda was a real surprise, although he has been keeping his head down in recent months. Inevitably the speculation is that he’s been pushed by Walmart after a few months when Asda has been in the unusual position of being the laggard of the grocery market.

I don’t go along with that, for several reasons. Firstly I don’t think it would be Walmart’s style to move Bond upstairs to chairman if they wanted him out. Secondly, he’s always been loved by the top brass in Bentonville and in many key respects Leeds has become seen as a centre of excellence within Walmart - who would have thought, for instance, that marketing across the Walmart empire would be directed from Asda House?

The timing of Bond’s departure isn’t ideal, and apparently was driven by the timing of a trip to Leeds by US analysts this Thursday. If Bond had been setting out the future direction of the business at such an event, it would have looked misleading. But he will hate to be going out on a low. Even by the standards of retail leaders, Bond is uber-competitive and despite his down-to-earth demeanour, he’s not lacking in awareness of his own capabilities.

I remember when he took charge at Asda well, as it was one of the first big events after I took over as editor of Retail Week. His first mission was to announce big job cuts and to steady the Asda ship, as the business was losing share to a Tesco absolutely in its prime. Since then, until very recently, the trend has been consistently upwards, and he has succeeded in reinforcing its price credentials and further successful growth into non-food. His five years running the business will be looked back on as a success.

The problem it’s faced lately is how does an EDLP grocer which eschews fripperies like loyalty cards counter Tesco’s increasingly aggressive use of Clubcard. There’s no easy answer to it and Asda management has been struggling to get to grips with the issue.

As for a replacement, Andy Clarke is the best bet internally - I’m not sure FD Judith McKenna will want to go for to it - but the more likely outcome lies in North America. What price David Cheesewright following the path beaten by Dalton Philips from Canada to Yorkshire?

 

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