Investor revolt against Ocado chairman over plot to oust chief executive Tim Steiner
A boardroom battle at Ocado Group is hotting up as investors revolt against the grocery tech group’s chairman over a plot to replace chief executive Tim Steiner.
A top-10 investor has written to the FTSE-250 firm’s board calling for chairman Adam Warby to be removed.
It comes after it was reported that Warby has been spearheading a hunt to replace Steiner.
And now hostilities have intensified as an unnamed investor’s letter to the board claims that shareholders controlling around a quarter of Ocado’s shares want Steiner to stay.
Ocado had reached out to Niklas Heuveldop, the boss of Ericsson-owned telecoms company Vonage, as a potential successor, according to Sky News.
Responding to the speculation last month, Ocado attempted to downplay talks as mere ‘long-term succession planning’.
Boardroom frustrations: Ocado Group has tried to downplay speculation that it is looking to replace chief executive and co-founder Tim Steiner
A brief statement said: ‘Ocado confirms that the CEO and the board continually engage in long-term succession planning and regularly engage with potential candidates.’
But investors have still warned the company that they back Steiner. Multiple shareholders have told the board they do not want an immediate change in leadership and would want Steiner to remain in an advisory or technology role if he steps back as boss, according to a report in the Financial Times.
Steiner, a former Goldman Sachs bond trader, has led the company for 26 years since he founded the business in 2000 alongside former colleagues Jason Gissing, and Jonathan Faiman.
Warby replaced Rick Haythornthwaite as chairman in December 2024 after a career which has included roles as chairman at corporate headhunter Heidrick & Struggles International and Swiss software firm SoftwareOne Holding.
The job was previously held by former chairman of Asda Lord Stuart Rose between 2013 and July 2020.
The UK-listed company sells technology to retailers to pick and dispatch online food orders from robotic warehouses.
But investors have been losing patience as new openings with existing partners and further technology deals have failed to materialise.
It also runs its own grocery firm in partnership with Marks & Spencer, which has turned a corner after online grocery was hit by shoppers returning to physical shops after lockdown.
Jonathan De Mello, a retail analyst and founder of JDM Retail, said: ‘This boardroom conflict is a direct reflection of growing investor anxiety following Ocado’s steep share price decline over recent years.’
He said that ‘attempting to replace a co-founder like Tim Steiner without a clear and consensus-backed transition plan is a highly risky strategy’ as Steiner pioneered the group’s flagship robot technology.
And he said it is likely that chairman Warby will be ‘forced out’ as a result of the board ‘moving too quickly,’ which leaves Ocado in a tricky spot as it continues ‘to struggle to gain any momentum in performance and profitability.’
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