The former Walgreens Boots Alliance executive joins the supermarket giant at a time when its core food business is flying. Pre-tax profits surged 28% during the 26 weeks to August 29, as group sales climbed 6.8% to £26.7bn.

The numbers encapsulate the scale of the turnaround overseen by Murphy’s predecessor, Dave Lewis – and the business the Irishman inherits is in a very different place to the one Lewis was parachuted into six years ago.