Supermarket group Waitrose has been given the official go-ahead to buy 19 stores from rival Morrisons, including Safeway in Worthing.

The move, which will increase Waitrose's selling space by 20 per cent, was given the green light when the Office of Fair Trading decided not to refer it to the Competition Commission.

Bradford-based Morrisons is selling the outlets as part of the disposal programme required by regulators following its takeover of Safeway.

All but one of the stores are Safeway-branded and each will continue to be operated by Morrisons until they are converted in the coming months.

The acquisition, which takes Waitrose into new areas in the North, is the largest ever undertaken by the John Lewis Partnership, which owns the 144-strong supermarket chain.

Waitrose, which recently announced record profits, will be looking to repeat the process that saw 11 Somerfield stores acquired and then converted into the Waitrose brand in the spring of 2000.

Morrisons was required to sell 52 stores by the Office of Fair Trading as part of moves to ease competition concerns in certain parts of the country.

The group has put the value of the assets being sold at £158 million.

Tuesday June 01, 2004