Ex-Sainsbury's Chief Takes Role At Food Giant

The former chief executive of J Sainsbury is returning to the food industry in a role at 2 Sisters, a privately held company which is one of the biggest suppliers to British supermarkets.

Sky News understands that Justin King, who stepped down last year after a decade in which Sainsbury's performance was transformed, has taken a part-time post advising Ranjit Singh, 2 Sisters' chief executive and controlling shareholder.

2 Sisters supplies a range of ready meals to big grocers and owns the Goodfella's pizza range and Fox’s Biscuits.

The company's presence in the poultry sector is so large that it has led to Mr Singh being nicknamed 'The Chicken King'.

The appointment follows Sky News' disclosure last month that Mr King is spearheading a rescue of the Marussia Formula One (F1) team , which collapsed into administration towards the end of last year.

The team is poised to return to the F1 grid as Manor Racing when the season gets underway in Melbourne, Australia, next month.

Mr King is expected to chair the team, while it emerged on Friday that the principal financial investor is Stephen Fitzpatrick, the founder of Ovo Energy.

His track record while at the UK's third-largest supermarket by sales has led to Mr King being linked to a number of major corporate roles, although it is unclear how close he is to accepting a full-time position elsewhere.

Mr King declined to comment but in a statement issued to Sky News, a 2 Sisters spokesman said: "We are pleased to confirm that Justin King has been appointed as an adviser to support 2 Sisters Food Group's plans for the future.

"Justin knows our business well from his time at Marks & Spencer and more recently at Sainsbury's, and we look forward to working with him and drawing from his considerable knowledge and expertise."

Mr King has been an outspoken commentator on food supply chain issues, and is jointly chairing a review of the food economy alongside Professor Quintin McKellar, vice-chancellor of the University of Hertfordshire.

The former Sainsbury's boss is among a trio of supermarket chief executives to have vacated their roles in the last nine months, although he is the only one of the three to have departed voluntarily.

Earlier this week, Wm Morrison named David Potts , a former Tesco executive, as its new boss, while Philip Clarke was ousted as Tesco chief executive last summer and replaced by Dave Lewis.

2 Sisters grew rapidly through a string of acquisitions, but its heavy indebtedness prompted a review of its balance sheet last year.

In July, it secured a deal with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan which led to the issuance of £820m of bonds and a new £60m working capital facility, with debt repayments pushed back to 2021.

From a standing start two decades ago, 2 Sisters has been built into a food empire boasting £3bn in annual sales.

In addition to well-known brands like Goodfella's and Fox's, it is a big supplier of own-label products, and in 2010 bought the fish and chip shops chain, Harry Ramsden's.

However, the company’s growth has not been without difficulties: last year, its salad business, Solway Foods, laid off hundreds of staff.

2 Sisters also held discussions with Burton's Biscuits, owner of Jammie Dodgers and Wagon Wheels, about a merger with Fox's.

The talks are thought to have stalled last year amid other corporate activity in the sector although they could be revived.