Mike Coupe is to resign as chief executive of J Sainsbury, a year after its failed £12bn merger with Asda.
Coupe, who was at the company for 15 years and at the helm for six, will hand over to retail and operations director Simon Roberts in May.
Had the Asda merger been successful, Sainsburys would have overtaken Tesco as the UK biggest supermarket chain.
Since Coupe became chief executive in 2014 sales have grown by £6bn to £32.4bn, largely due to buying Argos, but profits have fallen 73% to £239m and shares have slump by a third.
