Morrisons is not a must-do deal for Sainsbury’s
Source: The Guardian ·
Odds are good the CMA would approve of a supermarket merger. But does Sainsbury’s need Morrisons?Would competition regulators really smile upon a combination of Sainsbury’s and Morrisons? One must assume the two companies believed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would give a thumbs up if asked, otherwise they would not have initiated their now-aborted merger talks.It’s easy to list…
From the source
Would competition regulators really smile upon a combination of Sainsbury’s and Morrisons? One must assume the two companies believed the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) would give a thumbs up if asked, otherwise they would not have initiated their now-aborted merger talks. It’s easy to list the arguments the duo could make. First, the combined market share of Sainsbury’s (15.2%, on the latest numbers from Worldpanel analysts) and Morrisons (8.4%) would still be less than that of mighty Tesco (27.8%). It would not be a case of leap-frogging the market leader, which was Sainsbury’s big idea back in 2018 when Asda was in its sights. Second, Aldi and Lidl are a stronger force in the land. Together, the German discounters represent almost a fifth of the UK market and, since they’re backed by serious international buying muscle, their role as the country’s grocery price police might not be affected one jot. Third, since Morrisons has already sold its petrol stations, the CMA…