Sainsbury's takes nine Morrisons stores

Sainsbury's has acquired nine former Safeway stores from Morrisons. The gross asset value of the stores is£16.8 million. Eight of the shops are in southern England and one is in Scotland.

Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King said: 'These stores give us 175,000 sq ft (16,260 sq m) of space and have an average size of about 20,000 sq ft (1,860 sq m). They will provide an opportunity to strengthen our market position in town centre locations and deliver future growth. We look forward to welcoming 100,000 new customers and 1,220 new colleagues.'

The retailer said the acquisitions were conditional on approval by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Separately, the OFT is investigating the acquisition of 115 Safeway stores by Somerfield to decide whether the additions to its portfolio have put the retailer in an anti-competitive position.