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Costcutter merges with competitor

Jul 21 2006

Costcutter, the largest independent franchise food retailer in the UK and Ireland, is planning to merge with supplier and fellow shop group Nisa-Today's. Costcutter and Nisa-Today's are hoping to rival big supermarket chains as well as cut costs.

The plan, which will lead to a new company being formed, must be approved by a shareholder vote in late July.

Founded in 1986, Costcutter has a franchise operation of 1,200 UK stores, 65 stores in the Republic of Ireland and a further 52 in Poland.

Nisa-Today's, which is based in Scunthorpe, operates like a co-operative, using the collective buying power of the group of members to negotiate deals with suppliers.

Smaller retailers have suffered in recent years amid increasing competition from supermarket giants.

The UK's big four - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons - now control almost 75 per cent of the UK grocery market, a development that has prompted the Office of Fair Trading to investigate their dominance of the sector.

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