M Local sale could net Morrisons up to £50m
Morrisons could receive between £30m and £50m from the sale of its M Local convenience stores.
According to reports the chain is locked in negotiations with retail veteran Mike Greene, who is fronting a bid from investment firm Greybull Capital.
The sale comes ahead of Morrisons profit report on Thursday which is expected to show pre-tax profits have dropped from £239m to around £140.7m.
Revenues are predicted to come in at £8.1bn, a slight dip in the £8.5bn recorded last year. Barclays analysts also expect a 2.5 per cent fall in half-year like-for-like sales.
Due to the store's weakend share price South African billionaire, Christo Wiese, has expressed interest in a takeover bid, telling press he wasn't ruling out an acquisition in the UK food sector following his takeovers of fashion chain New Look and gym brand Virgin Active.
Morrisons' new chief executive David Potts is reported to be focusing on the group's core supermarkets. The grocer's latest results will be posted along with Home Retail Group, Dixons Carphone, Next, Dunelm and John Lewis Group later this week.