Waitrose and Marks and Spencer will be the winners in a Safeway sale, with Somerfield, Sainsbury,Big Food Group and the Co-operative Group likely losers. That was the consensus of opiinion at the seminar.
If Sainsbury lost, it would be exposed as the most expensive of the big five, but there would still be clear ground for Waitrose and Marks & Spencer at the premium end of the market.
Littlewoods chairman David Simons said: "Long-term, the only winner is Waitrose as it can pick up stores and benefit from the flight of Safeway customers. Sainsbury has all sorts of diffficulties looming."
Speakers agreed that Wal-Mart had the greatest chance of making the merger work as it would impose its culture on Safeway and, more important, had the necessary systems and expertise to make any integration work.
Simons added: "Wal-Mart or Tesco have the greatest chance of success in merging. Sainsbury or Morrisons would both make a pig's ear of it."
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If Sainsbury lost, it would be exposed as the most expensive of the big five, but there would still be clear ground for Waitrose and Marks & Spencer at the premium end of the market.
Littlewoods chairman David Simons said: "Long-term, the only winner is Waitrose as it can pick up stores and benefit from the flight of Safeway customers. Sainsbury has all sorts of diffficulties looming."
Speakers agreed that Wal-Mart had the greatest chance of making the merger work as it would impose its culture on Safeway and, more important, had the necessary systems and expertise to make any integration work.
Simons added: "Wal-Mart or Tesco have the greatest chance of success in merging. Sainsbury or Morrisons would both make a pig's ear of it."
{{NEWS }}
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