The Office of Fair Trading will pay Morrisons £100,000 in damages after wrongly accusing the retailer of price fixing.
The watchdog announced the settlement and apologised to Morrisons after the supermarket chain took legal action over a press release issued in September by the OFT.
The release incorrectly stated that Morrisons was the subject of a provisional finding of infringement in relation to the supply of butter and cheese in 2002 and 2003. It also said the supermarket had previously been warned by the OFT against anti-competitive behaviour, which was not the case.
A statement from the watchdog this morning said: "The OFT regrets that the press release contained these serious errors, and wishes to apologise sincerely to Morrisons for their publication."
Asda, Sainsbury's and Safeway, prior to its takeover by Morrisons, as well as a number of dairies, have admitted price fixing during 2002 and 2003, and will pay combined fines of more than £120 million.
But Tesco is also still fighting the OFT claims.
