Privately owned British supermarket group Morrisons is considering options on how to deal with the financial struggles of its convenience store partner McColl's Retail Group Plc, according to a Sky News report.
Morrisons has appointed investment bank Houlihan Lokey to explore options for its exposure to McColl's, the report added.
Profit Warning
McColl's last month issued a profit warning and said it was looking at new funding options after an unnamed party withdrew its takeover approach to buy the company.
London-listed McColl's has been negotiating with lenders since last year and had said it was in talks with banks for a longer-term agreement to secure more funding.
McColl's and Morrisons did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comments.
Morrisons Daily Store
Earlier this month, McColl’s opened its 200th Morrisons Daily store by converting one of its outlets at Southport.
The store offers a wide range of fresh food and groceries, more product choices at better prices, through new product lines and Morrisons own-label items.
Jonathan Miller, chief executive of McColl’s, said, "We are extremely pleased to reach the milestone of 200 Morrisons Daily stores. The Morrisons Daily stores are fundamentally reshaping our business into a more profitable and sustainable model in the medium term, as well as providing customers with access to a wider range of products, greater value and a supermarket-quality fresh food and grocery offer."
The rollout of Morrisons Daily stores is part of McColl’s’ strategy to focus on food-led convenience to drive incremental sales and improve the sales-mix across its stores.
McColl’s re-commenced its store conversion programme in early February 2022, following a scheduled pause over the Christmas and New Year period.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM – your source for the latest Retail news. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
