Pick n Pay is firmly on a recovery path, a radical change from the dire straits it was in just two years ago. Credit for the recovery goes to Richard Brasher, CEO since March 2013, who has brought to bear 26 years of experience gained at Tesco in the UK.Brasher came with a simple philosophy upon his appointment: "Retailing is not complicated; it's just hard to do well."With Brasher at the helm, Pick n Pay is proving it can again do retailing well. Signalling this, in the 52 weeks to March 1, was Pick n Pay's trading margin, a key indicator which leapt from 1.2% in the first half to 2.14% in the second.Phase one of Pick n Pay's turnaround strategy - restoring stability - has been "substantially achieved", Brasher declared at a recent results presentation."We now have a good foundation for growth," said Brasher.The recovery has so far been driven primarily by cost-cutting. Far stronger sales growth is now needed in a market where Pick n Pay has long been losing ground to Shoprite, Spar and Woolworths. Pick n Pay's sales growth in its past financial year was a muted 6.1% .Sales growth could have been stronger if, as Brasher put it, "we had chosen to play to the gallery". Instead, he stressed, the company's best long-term interests were put first and "pushing the sales trajectory button" was delayed.Emphasis was placed on finalising Pick n Pay's store operating model. Its new model of the rapid expansion of central distribution capacity is enabling resources and space to be switched from the back end of stores to the sales-driving customer-facing side.In finalising its store model, Pick n Pay also put the brake on capital expenditure in the past financial year, spending only R1.05-billion of a planned R1.6-billion.Sasfin Securities analyst Alec Abraham said: "The execution risk is gone. That Pick n Pay is being fixed is now a given," he says...