Henderson Group £12m warehouse

Henderson Group’s new £12m warehouse was lauinched last September

The CMA has now cleared Henderson Group’s completed acquisition of McColl’s Northern Irish stores.

Although the competition watchdog has not yet explained why it cleared the deal, it said the full text of its decision would be available shortly.

The CMA launched a phase one investigation last month to determine whether the five-store takeover deal would cause “a substantial lessening of competition” across the UK convenience market.

The Spar wholesaler first agreed to buy the stores from McColl’s in November. McColl’s originally acquired the five Northern Irish sites as part of a bigger deal to buy 300-store stores from the Co-op.

The wholesaler has invested £30m in revamping its Mallusk headquarters and launched a new £12.5m warehouse in September.

Henderson Group achieved record financial results in April, with a 6% increase in turnover to £699.3m for the year ending 31 December 2016, while its pre-tax profits rose by 11% to £24m.