FORMER Marks & Spencer executive Nigel Robertson is being lined up as a possible successor to Bob Stott, the chief executive of Wm Morrison.

Marie Melnyk, managing director of Morrisons, will also be included on a list of possible candidates being drawn up by the board.

Robertson, who joined Morrisons as a non-executive director in June, was joint head of Marks & Spencer’s food business until 1999, when he left to help found Ocado, the internet supermarket.

The Morrisons board is meeting in December to compile a list of candidates and discuss the appointment of headhunters to find a replacement for Stott, who had originally intended to step down in 2007. However, he was forced to bring forward his retirement following a bitter boardroom battle at the troubled group, after it announced the first loss in its 106-year history.

The announcement was an embarrassing climbdown for chairman Sir Ken Morrison, who only weeks earlier had insisted that Stott would stay for the duration.

It is understood that Sir Ken is keen for the board to find a replacement for Stott without using headhunters. But deputy chairman David Jones believes that headhunters would help to ensure the group considers all possible candidates.

Sir Ken chairs the nominations committee, whose other members include fund manager Paul Manduca, Mars executive Brian Flanagan and Susan Murray, former chief executive of Littlewoods. Robertson is also a member of the committee.

When it completed its takeover of Safeway in March 2004, Morrisons was worth nearly £7 billion, but five profit warnings have hit hard and the group is now worth £4.6 billion.

Morrisons was founded in 1899 as a humble egg-and- butter market stall in Bradford by Sir Ken’s father.

Under Sir Ken, the business has been transformed into a national supermarket chain.