Morrisons will not be creating 250 new jobs in Newport

After a very lengthy court battle which Morrison’s have won, they are now considering pulling out of the plans to build a store in Audley Avenue, Newport.

Morrison’s have reported pre tax losses of £176million in the year to February 2014, compared to pre tax profits of £879 million in 2012/13 therefore they are left in the position now of considering what to do next after winning their legal battle.  The Chief Executive of Morrisons said that they did not intend to build any more full size supermarkets after 2015/16 and that they would only acquire new supermarket sites in exceptional circumstances.

Morrison’s announced last year that they hoped the new store would be open during the first half of 2014 which would create 250 new jobs. Now they are considering their options and deciding what is best to do for the future of Morrison’s. If they decide to pull out of this development then the owner could commence talks with rival supermarkets looking at the site. The owner of the site believes that Tesco and Sainsburys could be interested. He doesn’t feel that ASDA would be having recently opened a large store in Telford.

The local councillors have said it will be a shame if Morrisons does not take the site after all but now that planning permission has been granted another supermarket will take the site so its only a matter of time to see who wants it.  Some locals would rather see an Aldi built there and they are expanding at the current time and has the public backing.

The legal battle they have had has had the go ahead twice but on both occasions the local authority lost leaving way for Morrison’s to start work. But now it looks like the company may be considering their options and pulling out of the development.

Morrisons also announced that over the next three years they are looking to sell off its property portfolio worth around £9bn.