CMA cautions Morrisons and M&S over land competition
Morrisons has been cautioned by the competition watchdog over 55 land agreements that are restricting competition.
The CMA has also written to Marks & Spencer about 10 sites.
The supermarkets were found to have breached the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, which was “put in place to prevent large grocery retailers, like Morrisons, from benefiting from long exclusivity arrangements and restrictive covenants”, the CMA’s open letter to Morrisons’ chief executive said.
Morrisons has been cautioned by the competition watchdog over 55 land agreements that are restricting competition.
The CMA has also written to Marks & Spencer about 10 sites.
The supermarkets were found to have breached the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order 2010, which was “put in place to prevent large grocery retailers, like Morrisons, from benefiting from long exclusivity arrangements and restrictive covenants”, the CMA’s open letter to Morrisons’ chief executive said.
The regulator said it was “the poorest compliance record that the CMA has identified to date”. It said it had written to all retailers within the scope of the order in February 2020, after concluding that Tesco had breached its terms. Retailers were then asked to assess their own portfolios and report to the CMA.
It added that Morrisons had shown 55 breaches of the order since it came into force and, while 14 had ceased, 41 were ongoing.
The CMA found that approximately 15% of all Morrisons’ land was in breach of the order, demonstrating “significant failures in compliance for a company of Morrisons’ size, resources and standing, particularly given that the order has been in force since 2010”.
It added that it now expects Morrisons to “move swiftly to rectify all 41 outstanding breaches”.
Morrisons and M&S both agreed to take remedial action to rectify the breaches.
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