Morrisons and Sainsbury’s held talks over a potential merger earlier this year, according to the Financial Times.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the newspaper reported that talks over a potential deal began in November 2025 and continued until February 2026. The sources added that Sainsbury’s ultimately backed out of talks, but that the door is open for future negotiations.

Both Morrisons and Sainsbury’s declined an FT request to comment.

Sainsbury’s is the UK’s second-largest supermarket, with 15.2 per cent of the grocery market share according to Numerator data. The same data puts Morrisons in fifth, with an 8.4 per cent market share.

A combined supermarket offering would directly challenge Tesco’s dominance in the UK supermarket economy, with the retailer currently holding approximately 27.8 per cent of the market.

Morrisons is in the midst of a major turnaround effort, having reported a pre-tax loss of £629 million for the year in August despite a 2.8 per cent rise in revenues to £15.7 billion.

In May, The Telegraph reported that the supermarket chain was in talks to provide its meat, eggs, and pies alongside other food products produced by its manufacturing arm Myton to rival supermarkets in a bid for improved financials.

In July, it began closing 100 stores as part of the same efforts and in September began a widespread selloff of its in-store pharmacies.

If a deal went ahead, it would represent an unprecedented consolidation of the UK’s retail market. Similar deals this century include Morrisons’ acquisition of Safeway in 2004 for £3 billion and Tesco’s 2018 acquisition of food wholesaler Booker for £3.7 billion.

In April 2018, Sainsbury’s and Asda agreed on a merger deal that would have seen the creation of a new combined supermarket with annual revenues exceeding £51 billion. Both brands would have been preserved in the deal, while linking stores to share formats and distribution.

The Competition and Markets Authority blocked the merger in April 2019 on the grounds that it would drive up prices, reduce the quality of products available, and lead to a worse overall shopping experience in the combined stores.

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