Morrisons has completed a recent refinancing exercise, bringing its debt down by a further £261m and extending its maturities on existing loans.
The supermarket chain said it had issued a new £930m equivalent Sterling and Euro bond dated to January 2031, the agreement of an additional term loan of £450m dated November 2030, and the repurchase of £1,193m of Sterling and Euro bonds dated 2027 as well as £450m of unsecured notes.
It brings the total amount of debt repaid since the acquisition of Morrisons by CD&R in October 2021 to £2.7bn. It has £3.5bn of outstanding debt.
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Morrisons CFO Jo Goff said: “We’re continuing to build a stronger, customer focused Morrisons, renewing and modernising the business, while maintaining the traditional values that are our foundation.
“Against this backdrop, I’m very pleased with our further progress on debt reduction, with our debt levels now around 43% lower than in October 2021, whilst our retail estate remains over 80% freehold.”
Morrisons kicked off a £1bn debt buyback plan in May 2024, following the £2.5bn sale of its petrol forecourts to Motor Fuel Group (MFG) the month prior.
The supermarket has been pushing ahead with its turnaround plan of late. In March, it unveiled plans to close 52 cafés, all 18 of its Market Kitchens, 17 convenience stores, 13 florists, 35 meat counters, 35 fish counters, and four pharmacies under a major operational shake-up.
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