Company
British supermarket chain founded in Bradford in 1899, among the UK's six largest grocers, owned by US private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice since 2021.
Sainsbury's ended preliminary merger talks with Morrisons held earlier this year, according to the FT. Sky News's Mark Kleinman argues in City AM that it is only a pause, with Tesco's lead and the discounters pushing the rest toward a deal.
Reality
Lidl held 8.6% of the UK grocery market in the 12 weeks to October, up from 8.2% a year ago, Worldpanel by Numerator figures show. Aldi, the larger German discounter, slipped from 10.6% to 10.5% over the same period, so the gain is Lidl's alone.
Reality
Sainsbury's, the UK's second-largest grocer, held merger talks with sixth-placed Morrisons from November to February before walking away. A competition ruling on Aldi and Lidl due this month will shape how many stores a revived deal would cost.
Reality
Sainsbury's held exploratory talks this year on a Morrisons merger that would have created a grocer with 23.6% of the UK market, the FT and Sky reported. Any revival would turn on whether the competition regulator accepted store sales as the price of approval.
Reality
Tesco is weighing a sale of its Hungarian, Czech and Slovak arm, £4.5bn of its £66.6bn revenue last year, with Lidl among the interested parties. A sale would end its overseas expansion and free money and attention for a UK market where its share has recently slipped.
Reality
Lidl GB spent £315m on price cuts and promotions against pre-tax profit of £245.5m as its market share climbed past Morrisons. Deluxe grew only a little faster than the business as a whole, so Lidl's clearer edge over a slowing Aldi is its loyalty scheme.
Reality