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Morrisons confirmed as the new owner of beleaguered McColls – but doubts remain over the viability of some of the stores and whether all suppliers will be paid

By Harry Mottram: The retail world has been gripped this week by the spectre of the convenience store chain McColls collapsing into administration.

A bidding war broke out between the EG Group who own hundreds of stores at their petrol stations and Morrisons who have a stake in more than 200 McColls outlets.

Morrisons have come out winners in the battle and have pledged to take on the 1,160 shops, 16,000 staff, the pension scheme and £170 million in debts. However, it doesn’t just stop there as a happy end to the saga.

The BBC’s business correspondent Emma Simpson pointed out that unsecured creditors of McColls were likely to lose out and it seems probable that not all of the stores will be saved with the potential of redundancies. One upshot is that Morrisons will have a presence on the high street as many McColls stores are in town centres where 7-11 shops have seen a demand for fresh food from the public rather than the traditional fags, mags and booze markets. With the Morrisons Convenience brand established it seems likely more McColls will be rebranded under the Convenience name.

ICSM said that members had raised concernes for months following problems with payments from McColls. The credit intelligence group said the pre-pack deal was better than a total collapse.

About ICSM Credit

ICSM Credit has more than four decades of experience as a credit intelligence group whose members gain inside information about firms in trouble allowing them to avoid bad debts and rogue traders. To join costs less than a tank of fuel - while at the moment there's a special free temporary membership offer during the Covid-19 crisis which gives access to free legal letters. ICSM also has an effective debt collecting service which has a global reach - ask for details from Paul.

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For details for the work of the journalist Harry Mottram visit www.harrymottram.co.uk