LONDON (Reuters) - Ken Morrison, the son of the founder and a former boss of Morrisons (>> Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc), has welcomed the appointment of retail veteran Andrew Higginson as the British grocer's next chairman.

Morrisons, Britain's No. 4 supermarket group, said on Tuesday that Higginson, a former finance director at market leader Tesco (>> Tesco PLC), will replace Ian Gibson when he steps down as chairman in 2015.

Higginson will join the board of Morrisons on October 1 as non-executive deputy chairman and chairman elect.

"I think it sounds very good ... He's got good background, good experience," Ken Morrison told Reuters. "I don't think it's a bad choice," he added.

At Morrisons' annual shareholders' meeting last month Ken Morrison labelled the grocer's performance "disastrous" and called for its board to be bolstered with more "retail knowledge".

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Kate Holton)

Stocks treated in this article : Tesco PLC, Wm. Morrison Supermarkets plc