Asda rejigs management ahead of tough year for UK retailers

LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Andy Clarke, head of Wal-Mart Stores Inc's British supermarket arm Asda, has rejigged management to help position the company ahead of what he expects to be one of the toughest-ever years for retailers in Britain.

Clarke (Toronto: CKI.TO - news) , chief executive since 2010, said on Wednesday he had promoted Barry Williams to chief customer officer, while Andrew Moore would take up Williams' position of chief merchandising officer in addition to his responsibilities for its George and GM (NYSE: GM - news) brands.

"I want stability at the top of the organisation through fewer, bigger leadership roles which will speed up decision-making in this highly competitive market," Clarke said in a statement.

Britain's big four grocers, including Tesco (Xetra: 852647 - news) , Sainsbury and Morrison as well as Asda, have lost customers to German discounters Aldi and Lidl as well as to the more upmarket Waitrose chain and are locked in a battle for market share.

Having lost out to rivals over Christmas, Morrison axed its chief executive Dalton Philips this week, emphasising the sector turmoil.

Asda, which trails market leader Tesco by annual sales and vies with Sainsbury to be Britain's second-largest grocer, in November said sales at stores open more than a year, excluding petrol, fell 1.6 percent in the 13 weeks to Sept. 30, its fiscal third quarter.

It is due to update investors on its trading in February. (Reporting by Li-mei Hoang; Editing by David Holmes)