Rami Baitiéh, who most recently served as the CEO of Carrefour France, has been selected to take over as the head of the British grocery chain Morrisons. He will take over for industry veteran David Potts, who will leave his position after nine years.

Morrisons said on Wednesday that Baitiéh would step into the post in November and collaborate with Potts throughout the transitional handover period.

Although the company’s performance has fallen behind that of its key competitors as of late, Potts led a turnaround at the Bradford, northern England-based firm, guided it through the pandemic, and grew its convenience store sector by acquiring McColl’s.

Morrisons stated that Baitiéh has a record of enhancing competitiveness, gaining market share, and accelerating growth during his more than a quarter of a century with the French firm Carrefour. Baitiéh announced his resignation from Carrefour in August.

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, a private equity firm based in the United States, paid 7 billion pounds ($8.5 billion) to acquire Morrisons in 2021. This resulted in a substantial debt load, which currently amounts to around 5.4 billion pounds.

The firm has a market share of just under 9% in the grocery industry in the UK, but what sets it apart from its primary competitors is that it also has its production facilities and makes almost half of the fresh food it sells.

Terry Leahy, a senior adviser at CD&R, stated that Rami would bring enthusiasm, creativity, and passion to extending Morrisons loyalty programs and digital reach. He will also ensure that the firm maintains its long tradition of excellence and its objective to give value to customers.

According to statistics collected from across the industry every month, Morrisons is not performing as well as its competitors, notably market leader Tesco (TSCO.L) and No. 2 Sainsbury’s (SBRY.L). According to data conducted by Kantar, the discount retailer Aldi surpassed the British grocery chain Morrisons to become the fourth-largest supermarket in the country based on market share in 2017.

On Wednesday, Morrisons also provided an update about the company’s trading in its third quarter, which ended on July 30 and indicated an improved trend.

It said that underlying sales increased by 2.9%, following a rise of 1% in the prior quarter, and it maintained its prediction that core earnings, often known as EBITDA, for the entire year will be greater than the 828 million pounds produced in 2021/22. Additionally, it is anticipated that the level of debt would be decreasing year on year.

Morrisons has said that its competitive position is strengthening due to its pricing increasing at a rate lower than the whole market and enhancing its reward program. There has also been a cost reduction of around 200 million pounds so far this year.

“Although inflation has been uncomfortably high, there have also been some very welcome recent signs of a decrease in inflationary pressures,” said Finance Chief Jo Goff. “These recent signs of a decrease in inflationary pressures are very welcome.”