Morrisons tight-lipped on Shropshire stores as axe falls
Struggling supermarket Morrisons is is staying tight-lipped over whether any of its stores in Shropshire and Mid Wales are set to shut.
The firm yesterday said it would close 11 stores nationwide, putting 900 jobs at risk as it reported its latest slump in profits.
The company has seven large stores in Shropshire and Mid Wales, employing hundreds of staff.
Pre-tax profits for the half-year to August 2 fell 47 per cent to £126 million while like-for-like sales for the period dropped 2.7 per cent compared with the same period last year.
New chief executive David Potts said the group faced a "long journey" to turn around its fortunes.
It comes a day after Morrisons said it was selling 140 M local convenience stores for around £25 million to concentrate on its larger supermarkets.
It says it will not announce the locations of the stores to close until it has told all its employees.
Morrisons has stores in Shrewsbury, Wellington, Lawley, Market Drayton, Oswestry, Welshpool and Newtown.
The announcement throws more doubt on the future on the Morrisons site in Oswestry. The former livestock market land has permission for a large food store as part of a retail and leisure complex. But the site has been cleared and fenced off with no sign of building work.
Neither Morrisons nor Cineworld, will comment on the future of the site.
