DALTON Philips, the former boss of Brown Thomas, has been appointed chief executive of British supermarket chain Morrisons.

Wicklow-born Philips, 41, will join Morrisons in March, the company said last week.

Morrisons, Britain's fourth-biggest supermarket chain, poached Philips from Canadian retailer Loblaw where he has been chief operating officer since 2007. Loblaw is controlled by Galen Weston, the billionaire owner of Brown Thomas.

Philips was chief executive of Brown Thomas between 2005 and 2007 before being moved by Weston to the Canadian arm of his business. Before joining Brown Thomas he spent seven years with the US retail giant Wal Mart, eventually heading their German stores, and also worked in New Zealand and Spain for Jardine Matheson, the industrial conglomerate.

"I am really pleased to be joining Morrisons. It's an incredibly exciting business with a terrific history and I'm really looking forward to meeting the team and to the challenge ahead," Philips said in a statement.

He succeeds Marc Bolland at Morrisons who has jumped ship to join Marks & Spencer as chief executive. Bolland is credited with turning round the fortunes of Morrisons which suffered after it bought smaller rival Safeway.

While Morrisons didn't disclose how much Philips will be paid, according to the company's latest annual report Bolland earned almost €2m in salary, bonuses and pension contributions.

Morrisons recorded the strongest Christmas trading among all UK supermarket groups, with like-for-like sales jumping 6.5% compared with 4.9% for Tesco and 4.25% for Sainsburys.