Former Aldi property director Mark Taylor has joined Morrisons as head of property acquisitions.
Taylor has joined the supermarket as it continues on its recovery plan.
Its most recent property strategy has been focused on disposals as the supermarket looked to improve its balance sheet.
In 2015 it announced that it was closing 23 M Local convenience stores after suffering a £729m pretax loss as part of a review of its estate where it closed unprofitable stores.
However, under new leadership of recently appointed boss David Potts, it posted a 4.8% increase in total turnover to £8.4bn, in its latest half-year results. The rise included a -0.4% negative new net space impact from disposals of underperforming stores during the 2016-17 financial year.
Key disposals included the sale of its customer fulfilment centre in Dordon for £92.3m.
It has also focused on refurbishing its estate, and completed 25 refurbishments during the period. It aims to complete 80 be the year end.
Although the retailer has recently been inactive in terms of acquisitions, Morrisons is now looking for new store opportunities.
At this stage acquisitions will most likely be opportunity led, and it has not yet set a target while it continues on its recovery plan.
During his tenure at Aldi, Taylor was responsible for opening at least 60 new sites a year in order for the budget supermarket to meet its target to expand its portfolio from 450 to 1,000 stores by 2020.
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