In 2019, Cairns and Banducci said they had let many of the company’s salaried team members down, and Cairns took a 20 per cent cut in his board fees for the year because he “took a higher level of responsibility than board colleagues” for the underpayments.

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The last two years of Cairns’ tenure has been dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, which thrust Woolworths into the spotlight as an essential service.

Perkins will replace Cairns as chair having served eight years on the Woolworths board. The seasoned company director has been chairman of Origin Energy since 2020 and is a director of Brambles.

Cairns said on Tuesday that the company was lucky to have someone of Perkins’ character to “provide the oversight required to allow the business to reach its full potential”.

Investors and industry insiders would not be drawn on the change of chair but those who watch the stock are understood to be happy that the position has gone to a candidate with a long tenure on the board. Perkins has served as a director of Woolworths for longer than Cairns has been chair.

Perkins will take the job during a period of accelerating inflation for dry and fresh groceries. UBS analysts said in a note this month that the revenue and earnings outlook for the supermarkets sector remained positive in light of rising food costs.

“Food inflation is rising at a faster rate than expected and this could see volumes of at-home (vs out-of-home) consumption remain elevated,” its equities team, which has a “neutral” rating on Woolworths, said in note this month.

Woolworths shares fell 1.8 per cent in early trading to $36.74 just before 10.30am. The stock was 1.5 per cent lower to $36.91 by mid-afternoon.

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