Morrisons will close down four of its stores, putting around 400 jobs at risk.

The supermarket chain said the closures are part of a “constant review” of its existing portfolio, which consists of 494 stores.

A statement explained that while four stores will shut, four others will get new investment.

The Crawley store in West Sussex, which only opened five years ago and employs 128, will close, along with Regents Circus in Swindon - which employs 113 - Shirley in Solihull, and Ince in Wigan.

“As we continue to focus on building a broader, stronger Morrisons we are constantly reviewing opportunities for new stores and the performance of our existing estate,” a spokesperson said.

“We will now be going through a consultation process at the stores and will be discussing how to reduce redundancies and, where possible, redeploy our highly valued colleagues within the business.”

According to Kantar Worldpanel’s most recent data, Morrisons’ 10.1 per cent market share makes it the UK’s fourth largest grocer, ahead of Aldi on 8.1 per cent. But this time last year, Morrisons’ market share was 10.3 per cent while Aldi’s was only 7.6 per cent, demonstrating the challenger’s recent growth.

However, according to its full-year results to 3 February, underlying pre-tax profits were £406 million – up 8.6 per cent year-on-year. Operating profit was £465 million, also up 4.5 per cent year-on-year, and marking Morrison’s third straight year of profits.

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