Loblaw Companies Ltd.'s chief operating officer, Dalton Philips, will leave Canada's biggest grocery company in March to become CEO of the fourth-largest supermarket chain in Britain, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC.

"Food retail today is a very global business and the work that we are doing at Loblaw is highly visible around the retail world," Loblaw chief executive officer Allan Leighton said in a release Wednesday. "Dalton's appointment is a reflection of this and the progress that we are seen to have made."

Loblaw's three-month stock chart on the TSX. (CBC)

The Irish-born Philips joined the Weston family-controlled chain several years ago, and was rumoured to be a prime candidate for the top job once the firm's turnaround nears completion and Leighton steps aside.

Leighton has held the top job at Loblaw since April 2008 after a management shakeup saw then-CEO Mark Foote leave the company.

Prior to joining Loblaw, Philips headed up tony Irish department store Brown Thomas, which is also controlled by the Weston family, and was chief operating officer of Wal-Mart's German division.

"Dalton has been a great colleague for over three years and we will miss him," Leighton said. "We celebrate his new position."