Latest news with #Baitiéh
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Map shows 17 Morrisons stores set to close from this month
Supermarket giant Morrisons will begin shutting 17 of its stores next week, in addition to 52 cafes, and 18 Market Kitchens. Morrisons hopes to "reinvigorate" the company in the shake up, which will see 16 stores close on April 16 with a further store closing on May 14. The supermarket will close 17 Morrisons Daily branches, which are smaller convenience shops, 11 of which have post offices that are also set to shut. The chain will also close 52 of its cafes, 18 of its Market Kitchen food courts, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters, and four pharmacies as part of plans announced last month. Morrisons employs 95,000 people in its supermarkets and a further 1,600 at its Morrison's Daily stores, with the latest announcement putting around 365 jobs at risk of redundancy. In March this year chief executive Rami Baitiéh said the changes were a 'necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons and enable us to focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth." 'We do not take lightly the disruption and uncertainty they will cause to some of our colleagues,' Baitiéh added. 'We will of course take particular care to look after all of them well through the coming changes.' Baitiéh has previously blamed the changes announced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget as to why the store needed to make changes. He cited the budget's changes to employers' National Insurance, as well as the rise in minimum wage from April, as reasons for the cost-saving measures, earlier this year. He said the UK government exacerbated 'an avalanche of costs' for businesses meaning Morrison's had to 'optimise its operations and to help mitigate recent significant cost increases'. The 17 stores have 11 Post Office counters inside, which are likely to close but perhaps not on the same dates as their respective stores. The Post Office said: "Morrisons has made the difficult decision to close some Morrisons Daily stores, some of which contain Post Offices. We fully recognise the inconvenience this will cause for our customers and apologise for the short notification as these branches close between April 9 and May 14. "We have reviewed Post Office provision in these areas and for most of these affected branches we are advertising the vacancies." Traditional British supermarkets have come under significant pressure from the growth of discounter rivals, such as Aldi and Lidl, with Morrisons now commanding just 8.5 per cent of the market, according to Kantar. The move follows cuts from its rival grocery chain, Sainsbury's, who announced in January that they will cut 3,000 jobs at its remaining cafés, patisserie and pizza counters. The chain says the move to close 61 in-store cafes will "simplify the business", adding that most Sainsbury's shoppers "do not use the cafés regularly". Lowestoft Road, Gorleston 3-5 Old Town, Peebles 214 Hutton Road, Shenfield Waterloo Estate, Poole Higham Lane Estate, Tonbridge The Cornmarket, Romsey Lainshaw Street, Stewarton Featherbed Lane, Selsdon Queslett Road, Great Barr Oakfield Road, Whickham Queensway, Worle Strand Parade, Goring-By-Sea Westfield Road, Woking 40 Peach Street, Wokingham 51 Sidwell Street, Exeter Moorland Road, Bath 19 The Village, Haxby Bradford Thornbury – West Yorkshire Paisley Falside Road – Renfrewshire, Scotland London Queensbury – Greater London Portsmouth – Hampshire Great Park – Tyne and Wear Banchory North Deeside Road – Aberdeenshire, Scotland Failsworth Poplar Street – Greater Manchester Blackburn Railway Road – Lancashire Leeds Swinnow Road – West Yorkshire London Wood Green – Greater London Kirkham Poulton St – Lancashire Lutterworth Bitteswell Road – Leicestershire Stirchley – West Midlands Leeds Horsforth – West Yorkshire London Erith – Greater London Crowborough – East Sussex Bellshill John Street – North Lanarkshire, Scotland Dumbarton Glasgow Road – West Dunbartonshire, Scotland East Kilbride Lindsayfield – South Lanarkshire, Scotland East Kilbride Stewartfield – South Lanarkshire, Scotland Glasgow Newlands – Glasgow, Scotland Largs Irvine Road – North Ayrshire, Scotland Troon Academy St – South Ayrshire, Scotland Wishaw Kirk Road – North Lanarkshire, Scotland Newcastle upon Tyne Cowgate – Tyne and Wear Northampton Kettering Road – Northamptonshire Bromsgrove Buntsford Industrial Park – Worcestershire Solihull Warwick Road – West Midlands Brecon Free Street – Powys, Wales Caernarfon North Road – Gwynedd, Wales Hadleigh – Suffolk Harrow, Hatch End – Greater London High Wycombe Temple End – Buckinghamshire Leighton Buzzard Lake Street – Bedfordshire London Stratford – Greater London Sidcup Westwood Lane – Greater London Welwyn Garden City Black Fan Road – Hertfordshire Warminster Weymouth Street – Wiltshire Oxted Station Yard – Surrey Reigate Bell Street – Surrey Borehamwood – Hertfordshire Weybridge, Monument Hill – Surrey Bathgate – West Lothian, Scotland Erskine Bridgewater SC – Renfrewshire, Scotland Gorleston Blackwell Road – Norfolk Connah's Quay – Flintshire, Wales Mansfield Woodhouse – Nottinghamshire Elland – West Yorkshire Gloucester – Metz Way – Gloucestershire Watford – Ascot Road – Hertfordshire Littlehampton – Wick – West Sussex Helensburgh – Argyll and Bute, Scotland Aberdeen King Street - Aberdeen Canning Town - London Camden Town - London Eccles Irwell Place - Greater Manchester Stoke Festival Park - Stoke-on-Trent Lincoln Triton Road - Lincolnshire Tynemouth Preston Grange - North Sheilds Nottingham Netherfield - Nottinghamshire Leeds Kirkstall - Leeds, West Yorkshire Milton Keynes Westcroft - Buckinghamshire Little Clacton Centenary Way - Essex Gravesend Coldharbour Rd - Kent Cheltenham Up Hatherley - Gloucestershire Basingstoke Thorneycroft - Hampshire Brentford Waterside - London Edgbaston - Birmingham Verwood - Dorset Kirkby - Liverpool
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Morrisons to axe hundreds of jobs and shuts cafes to relieve debt pressures
Morrisons is planning to axe hundreds of jobs and shut dozens of cafes amid a push to counter debt pressures and rising staff costs. The supermarket said it was proposing the closure of some cafes, in-store butcher and fish counters as well as smaller convenience stores across its estate, putting 365 workers at risk of redundancy. Some florists and pharmacies will also be targetted in the cost-cutting drive. Rami Baitiéh, the Morrisons chief executive, said the changes were a 'necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons'. He added they would allow Morrisons to 'focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth'. It comes just days before Morrisons is due to release its latest trading update for the first three months of the financial year. The company has been battling high debt costs since its takeover by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) for £10bn in 2021. In October 2021, its debt pile had rocketed to £6.2bn. For years, the high debt levels have meant Morrisons has had to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds in debt interest payments. In its latest financial year, high debt finance costs meant it recorded a pre-tax loss of around £500m. In the 16 weeks to the end of July alone, it was struck by a £110m debt finance bill. Morrisons has been racing to slash this debt pile since Mr Baitiéh took the helm in 2023, and last October announced a £331m deal to sell ground leases on 76 supermarkets. In November, it announced a major restructuring to reduce its debt pile to around £3.8bn. However, in January, Mr Baitiéh warned that the company was facing fresh headwinds to its turnaround efforts. He said Rachel Reeves's tax raid would force it to speed up a cost cutting drive, with the National Insurance costing it £85m alone. Mr Baitiéh said: 'These additional costs in the Budget were unwelcome, unexpected.' Under the shake-up announced on Monday, Morrisons said it was planning to shut 52 cafes, 18 of its takeaway food stations known as Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies. While the significant majority of staff are expected to be redeployed elsewhere in Morrisons, the company said around 365 workers are at risk of redundancy. Morrisons said the changes came after a 'wide-ranging review' which flagged areas where the costs were too high for how much customers were using them. It said the decision to close parts of its stores would help 'mitigate recent significant cost increases'.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Morrisons to axe hundreds of jobs and shuts cafes to relieve debt pressures
Morrisons is planning to axe hundreds of jobs and shut dozens of cafes amid a push to counter debt pressures and rising staff costs. The supermarket said it was proposing the closure of some cafes, in-store butcher and fish counters as well as smaller convenience stores across its estate, putting 365 workers at risk of redundancy. Some florists and pharmacies will also be targetted in the cost-cutting drive. Rami Baitiéh, the Morrisons chief executive, said the changes were a 'necessary part of our plans to renew and reinvigorate Morrisons'. He added they would allow Morrisons to 'focus our investment into the areas that customers really value and that can play a full part in our growth'. It comes just days before Morrisons is due to release its latest trading update for the first three months of the financial year. The company has been battling high debt costs since its takeover by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) for £10bn in 2021. In October 2021, its debt pile had rocketed to £6.2bn. For years, the high debt levels have meant Morrisons has had to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds in debt interest payments. In its latest financial year, high debt finance costs meant it recorded a pre-tax loss of around £500m. In the 16 weeks to the end of July alone, it was struck by a £110m debt finance bill. Morrisons has been racing to slash this debt pile since Mr Baitiéh took the helm in 2023, and last October announced a £331m deal to sell ground leases on 76 supermarkets. In November, it announced a major restructuring to reduce its debt pile to around £3.8bn. However, in January, Mr Baitiéh warned that the company was facing fresh headwinds to its turnaround efforts. He said Rachel Reeves's tax raid would force it to speed up a cost cutting drive, with the National Insurance costing it £85m alone. Mr Baitiéh said: 'These additional costs in the Budget were unwelcome, unexpected.' Under the shake-up announced on Monday, Morrisons said it was planning to shut 52 cafes, 18 of its takeaway food stations known as Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters and four pharmacies. While the significant majority of staff are expected to be redeployed elsewhere in Morrisons, the company said around 365 workers are at risk of redundancy. Morrisons said the changes came after a 'wide-ranging review' which flagged areas where the costs were too high for how much customers were using them. It said the decision to close parts of its stores would help 'mitigate recent significant cost increases'. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Sign in to access your portfolio
