By Morrisons makes last minute bid to save McColl’s
Morrisons has proposed a last-minute rescue deal for McColl’s after news broke that the convenience store chain was on the brink of collapse.
McColl’s warned last night that unless it secured more funding, administration was increasingly likely.
A deal with Morrisons would potentially secure 16,000 jobs.
Morrisons is already in a partnership with McColl’s which operates more than 200 Morrisons Daily convenience stores.
The improved offer, made on Thursday evening, is thought to include taking on McColl’s pension commitments and its £170m debt.
Morrisons has been talking to McColl’s and its creditors for weeks as it aims to thrash out a rescue.
McColl’s is running out of cash and needs an injection of funds to stay afloat.
The potential rescue, which was first reported by Sky News, would involve its lenders being repaid.
McColl’s, which has 1,400 stores, has a wholesale tie-up with Morrisons and Martin’s newsagents.
It raised £30m from shareholders last year to invest in expanding its Morrisons Daily convenience stores, but at the time it warned that footfall had been hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
Morrisons and McColl’s signed a deal in 2017 which involved Morrisons being the convenience store chain’s sole supplier for grocery products, including the relaunched Safeway brand.
Without a rescue deal, McColl’s, one of Britain’s biggest convenience store chains, could collapse within days, putting thousands of high street jobs at risk.
