Somerfield has unveiled a 6.4 per cent rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the 12 weeks up to, but not including, Easter.

According to MarketWatch, the supermarket chain plans to refit 200 existing stores in the next year, having invested £100 million into refitting 250 stores in the last 12 months.

Somerfield has also agreed to sell seven stores to Tesco, and has said it “will continue to dispose of stores which are not aligned with its overall strategic objectives”.

Somerfield is in the midst of a tricky sale process, but is still planning to open 250 new stores over the next three years.

So far just one bid has been tabled for Somerfield, which is being sold by a consortium consisting of Apax Partners, Barclays Capital and Robert Tchenguiz. The single bid was reportedly from The Co-operative. Somerfield hopes to achieve £2billion to £2.5bn for the sale.

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