Aside from Tesco appointing its next chairman, Philip Clarke unveiling a new strategy for the UK’s largest grocer, Sainsbury’s posting stellar profits and Ocado bizarrely blaming the bank holidays for a slowdown in sales while everyone else was struggling to match demand, it was shaping up to be a pretty quiet news day.
That is, until Haldanes chairman Arthur Harris – henceforth to be known as Bomber – fired a payload of heavy-duty verbal ordnance in the direction of The Co-op.
Harris, as you’ll see here, is not a happy man. He believes that Haldanes, to put it politely, was sold a pup when it bought 26 stores from The Co-op. Or, to use his phrase, “sold down the river”.
He even accuses the mutual of deliberately looking to weaken a rival via the deal. Were Harris a football manager, the tabloids would be bandying about phrases like “astonishing outburst” and “sensational rant”.
Haldanes said it has already kicked off legal proceedings – but The Co-op, in a formal response issued this afternoon, said “no proceedings have been served on the group at the time of releasing this statement”.
“Should they be served, we intend to contest them vigorously,” added the society, which “categorically refutes all allegations of impropriety”.
“The original transaction was subject to full due diligence on the part of Haldanes and its advisers,” it noted. “The Co-operative Group has complied with all our competition undertakings and, at the same time, has been pleased to support the Haldanes business financially through its start-up phase.”
All stores get the occasional unhappy shopper. But this probably isn’t covered by The Co-op’s generous returns policy.
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