Andy Clarke

Succeeding Andy Bond is a tough job, but in May Clarke managed to beat the rest of the Asda and Walmart competition to take the reins.

Rugby-mad Clarke has been trained by Bond and is seen by most as a safe pair of hands to steer the ship. While he has spent most of his career at Asda, he did leave the fold for a four-year stint at value retailer Matalan and frozen food chain Iceland, which is thought to have been one of the reasons the Walmart bosses believed he was the man to lead Asda.

Clarke is taking over at a difficult time. Last month Asda reported its first like-for-like sales decline in four years (down 0.3%). And, according to Kantar Worldpanel, the supermarket is losing market share.

Asda has already started to hit back, launching its Price Guarantee, its pledge to give shoppers their money back if they find their basket of groceries is cheaper at one of its rivals’ stores.

Clarke is also tasked with delivering Asda’s five-year ambitions - to be number one in non-food and the clear number two in food. This month’s takeover of Netto showed how seriously those ambitions need to be taken.