Morrisons shop at Asda as 16 more stores are bought

Morrisons has entered into a conditional agreement with Asda to acquire 120,000 sq.ft. of additional selling space through the purchase of 16 former Netto UK stores at a cost of £28.1m*.

These stores will fit well into their portfolio of 437 existing stores. The additional selling space is incremental to the 500,000 sq.ft target already outlined for 2011/12.

Obtaining the stores is conditional upon the successful completion of Asda’s acquisition of Netto UK with final approval by the Office of Fair Trading. The handover of the stores is expected to take place on a phased basis commencing in March, with completion of the conversion to the Morrisons format expected to take three months.

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Dalton Philips, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said: “These additional stores are an important next step in Morrisons’ growth. We are building on our strategy to bring Morrisons’ unique offer of freshly prepared, affordable food to more people in Britain.”