Morrisons to receive up to £50m for small stores, says report

The Sunday Telegraph says the supermarket chain’s management is in negotiations with Greybull Capital, in an effort to seal a deal before it updates the City on Thursday.

The report claims that Mike Greene, the retail veteran who is fronting Greybull’s bid, is understood to be keen on rebranding the 150-store chain as “My Local”. The stores are currently known as “M Local”.

A Morrisons spokesman said: “We have a policy of not commenting about speculative stories about transactions.”

A Greybull Capital spokesman also declined to comment on the report.

Mr Greene is a convenience store specialist, who has built an experienced team around him at Greybull.

It is understood that, if the sale goes ahead, Greybull would run the convenience store business as a going concern.

Greybull rescued Monarch Airlines last year and it takes a long term strategic view of the companies it acquires.

Brokers at Barclays expect Morrisons to post a 2.5 per cent fall in half-year like-for-like sales, and a 23 per cent fall in earnings to £203m compared with a year ago.

Analysts will also be keen to hear more about the strategy being implemented by David Potts, the company’s new chief executive.

Mr Potts has said he wants to focus on things “that matter to customers” such as product availability and helping shoppers at checkouts.