The Future Of The Independent Grocery Sector
EDM number 260 in 2006-07, proposed by David Taylor on 23/11/2006.
That this House recognises the independent grocery sector to be at a crossroads because of the further inexorable rise of superstores mirrored by a decline of traditional independent businesses; believes that a key bulwark against this has been NISA - the mutually owned and largest buying consortium for small traders in the United Kingdom, comprising almost 1,000 independent businesses with a turnover of billions, employing thousands of staff, giving local convenience stores the collective buying power to drive down costs and therefore prices for the customers; notes with concern that the board of directors are steering the company towards demutualisation and that Icelandic Investment Bankers (IIB) wish to buy a stake in the business with a view to a possible future flotation, with grave implications for the viability of independent NISA businesses as the investment returns expected by IIB would drive up prices in the supply chain making the independents less competitive and the multiples even more dominant; welcomes the fact that a group of shareholders, the NISA Members' Association (NMA) have resisted IIB overtures in order to protect this cornerstone of truly independent supply in the grocery sector and is now seeking Board representation at the company annual general meeting on 28th November 2006 on a platform of maintaining mutual status and modernising the business; and urges all hon. and right hon. Members to back the NMA campaign in the belief that mutuality and independence are the watchwords of a secure future for the independent grocery sector.
This motion has been signed by a total of 36 MPs.
Download raw data as csv or xml.