A report today (Wednesday) by FoodManufacture.co.uk says that the head of the food team at Rollits Solicitors, Julian Wild, has stated Potts would be wise to sell off the manufacturing facilities ammassed by Morrison's in recent years.

Wild is reported to have said that selling its manufacturing facilities would allow Morrison's to "focus on being a retailer and not a manufacturer".

However, Clive Black and Darren Shirley of Shore Capital have said that the new CEO should make food manufacturing "a weapon" in his battle against the other big retailers and discount stores like Lidl and Aldi.

"If it is a weapon that can be used to differentiate to customer benefit then it is worthwhile," they said.

Wild has responded to this by saying that the sale of Morrison's facilities would take a lot of assets from the firm balance sheet and add some much needed capital.

Comment

The Irish Farmers Journal's market specialist Phelim O'Neill has commented that from a farmers viewpoint it would be disappointing if Morrison’s has to go down the route of selling its facilities.

The retailer has been a long recognised top buyer of livestock in Britain with a unique model of buying cattle and doing their own processing. Historically, the large supermarket groups had a direct involvement in processing beef and lamb, but have withdrawn from this two decades ago. The preferred model for supermarkets now is to build supply partnerships with the large meat packers who have effectively taken on the account management function for beef and lamb in the big supermarkets.