US supermarket chain Kroger said that chief executive and chair Rodney McMullen had stepped down after a board investigation found his personal conduct was “inconsistent” with its policy on business ethics.
In a statement on Monday, the company said McMullen’s conduct was not related to the chain’s financial performance or operations, but did not give any details.
Kroger said its board had been made aware on February 21 of “certain personal conduct” by McMullen and had “immediately retained outside independent counsel to conduct an investigation”.
It said the conduct was not related to Kroger’s “financial performance, operations or reporting, and it did not involve any Kroger associates”.
Ronald Sargent, Kroger’s lead independent director, will replace McMullen as chair and interim chief executive immediately, the company added. It said it had hired a headhunter to find a permanent replacement as chief executive.
Kroger was sued by its rival Albertsons in December after their proposed $25bn merger was blocked by two separate US judges. The deal would have been the biggest supermarket merger in US history, creating a behemoth with 5,000 stores across 48 US states. Albertsons alleged that Kruger had not made enough effort to secure regulatory approval.
Kroger said on Monday that it expected full-year sales “at the high end of its guidance range” and that adjusted earnings per share would be slightly above guidance. It will report fourth-quarter and full-year results on March 6.