Sir Ken fills trolley with Waitrose cash

SIR Ken Morrison is beginning to show how cheaply he got hold of Safeway supermarkets.

He sold 19 stores - from Abergavenny to Fulham - to Waitrose for well over £300m. He has at least 33 more to sell and could easily realise £700m in total.

Sir Ken was expected to raise £500m to £600m from the 52 stores which competition watchdogs said he must sell. The 19 going to Waitrose include one Morrison store.

The retail trade is abuzz with talk of a Morrison sale-and-leaseback deal with a big bank, such as Royal Bank of Scotland, to raise up to £2bn. The Morrison camp has poured cold water on this, saying it is not Sir Ken's style. The store sales alone may clear group debt.

Morrison (up 3/4p to 250 3/4p) paid a modest £2.9bn for Safeway's 479 stores after regulators ruled out every other major supermarket bidder.

The deal takes Waitrose, part of the John Lewis Partnership, as far north as Harrogate. Its UK market share could rise from 3.5% to 4.5%. It takes on 3,500 Safeway staff, raising its total to 33,500, spread over 163 stores, up from 114 five years ago.

Waitrose sales rose 12% last year to £2.7bn. It is succeeding as Sainsbury struggles. Quarterly sales figures today will show tough going. New chief executive Justin King arrives next week.

The shares eased 1/4p to 281 3/4p amid talk of tension already between King and Sir Peter Davis, soon to be chairman.