A report in the Mail on Sunday said that the retailer had secretly circulated a list of the stores to rivals, including Waitrose, and that negotiations with retailers to buy the stores was under way.
A spokeswoman said: '[The Mail on Sunday report] is completely untrue. We have around 100 stores currently open and we will continue to roll out more Simply Food stores, as Stuart Rose has outlined. Nothing has changed.'
The food-only store format was launched in 2001 under the aegis of then food director Justin King.
No comments yet