Top 50 Indie Rontec is extending its partnership with Morrisons with plans for a further 40 convenience stores across its sites, but Morrisons’ trial with a second Top 50 Indie, MFG, has been terminated.
The new Morrisons Daily stores, which are due to open by the summer, are in addition to the 10 stores recently opened as part of an agreement between the two companies that was announced in November.
Commenting on the stores already open, Morrisons said: “These are proving successful, and we now plan to open a further 40 with Rontec in the coming months.”
Rontec boss Gerald Ronson said: “It’s a major development programme between two companies who have a similar ‘can do’ culture. Results to date are satisfactory. Having done 50, our network has the potential for at least another 50 from a locational and size point of view. We need a store size of 1200 sq ft and upwards, you can’t do it in anything less. We’re past stage one and into stage two. It should give us another £50-70m turnover. It’s keeping the team busy! But it’s where I believe this industry is going, whether it’s a Little Waitrose or a Tesco Express.”
Morrisons also said it was ending the trial with MFG. In October 2015 the two companies agreed a trial with five stores at MFG sites. MFG will convert the stores to the Londis brand, which already features on more than 300 of its forecourts.
Morrisons said it sees the convenience market as an opportunity for growth, especially through petrol forecourts and independent retailers. The announcements came as Morrisons reported a 1.7% rise in like-for-like sales in the year to 29 January, and pre-tax profit was up 49.8% to £325m.
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