Shares in supermarket group Morrisons have fallen on reports that investor Walter Scott has sold around 100m shares in the UK grocer.
Morrisons was one of the biggest fallers in the FTSE100 yesterday (22 May) after reports of a sell off emerged in the national press. According to the Guardian, UBS, acting on behalf of Walter Scott, placed the shares at 280p each, just below last night’s closing price of 283p.
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Morrisons share price dropped 2.5% yesterday and shares continued to fluctuate today, falling 0.8% to 280.50p at 10:19am BST.
Fund management group Walter Scott is understood to have owned around 4% of the supermarket group but is yet to confirm the sale with the London Stock Exchange.
Walter Scott representatives were unavailable for comment at time of press, while a spokesperson for UBS said the investment bank is not commenting on the placement.
Walter Scott is the second major shareholder to offload its holding in Morrisons this year after fund manager BlackRock sold its 10% stake.
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By GlobalDataThe reports also come a week after Morrisons announced a tie-up with online grocer Ocado. The agreement has met with a mixed reaction in the city. Shore Capital analyst Clive Black suggested the agreement was “a potential waste of capital” for Morrisons that “does not yet credibly lead to a profitable grocery online business”.
A spokesperson for Morrisons said it could not confirm the sale reports.
For just-food’s analysis of Morrisons’ ambitions to expand online through its relationship with Ocado click here.
