Retail group re-writes over 100 land agreements which restrict rival brands
Image credit: flickr.com/TheCo-opGroup
THE Co-operative Group Limited (Co-op) has admitted to over 100 breaches of anti-competitive land agreements, says the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA).
The Co-op has been made to re-write its land agreements on 107 properties across the UK after the CMA found the retail group was in breach of the Groceries Market Investigation Order 2010.
The 107 breaches were identified as Restrictive Covenants on land – a legally binding agreement which limits what can be done with the piece of land – with four in Scotland including:
• Woodside Road, Glenrothes, Fife
• Tulloch Square, Tulloch, Perth
• Countess Crescent, Dunbar, East Lothian
• North Muirton Shopping Centre, Argyll Road, Perth
Further to this, Co-op was found to be in breach of Exclusivity Arrangements with land owners that were not capped at five years – where landowners agree to only negotiate with one buyer during a set period of time.
For Scotland, this included:
• Dunure Road/Cumbrae Drive Alloway, Doonfoot, Ayr
• Howden West, Livingston
• Hillside, Leathan Fields, Portlethen
• Greenock Road, Bishopton
• Bughtlin Market, East Craigs, Edinburgh
The Groceries Market Investigation Order 2010 was introduced to stop supermarkets from imposing restrictions that would block rival companies from opening supermarket stores nearby and applies to seven designated large grocery retailers. These include:
• Tesco plc
• J Sainsbury plc
• Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc
• Asda stores plc
• Co-operative Group Limited
• Waitrose Limited
• Marks and Spencer plc
The Co-op has already addressed 104 of these breaches, and plans to resolve the remaining three.
CMA’s action made up part of a targeted programme of activity to ensure the Order’s rules on land agreements were upheld, and ensured fair competition among the seven businesses.
Alongside the Co-op’s 107 breaches, the CMA has found similar breaches from across all seven supermarkets including Tesco in 2020 with 23 breaches; Waitrose in 2022 with seven breaches; Sainsbury’s with 18 breaches; Asda with 14 breaches; Morrisons with 55 breaches; and Marks & Spencer with 10 breaches.
Daniel Turnbull, senior director of markets at the CMA, said: “Restrictive agreements by our leading retailers affect competition between supermarkets and impact shoppers trying to get the best deals.
“We know that Co-op has made a considerable effort to amend all their unlawful agreements, given this Order has been in place since 2010.
“Co-op and the other designated retailers must make sure they do the right thing by their customers in the future.”
