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53-712: Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited , trading as Morrisons , is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, and one in Gibraltar . The company is headquartered in Bradford , England. Founded in 1899 by William Morrison , hence the abbreviation Wm Morrison, it began as an egg and butter stall in Rawson Market, Bradford. Until 2004, its store locations were focused in

106-553: A British supermarket chain which owned 479 stores, giving Morrisons a larger presence in southern England. The company was purchased for £3.3 billion, comprising 1 new Morrisons share (enabling Safeway shareholders to have a 50% stake in the enlarged group and reducing the Morrison family's shareholding to 18%), plus 60 pence in cash (paid for by the divestment of 52 overlapping stores) for each Safeway share held. The acquisition quickly ran into difficulties caused in part by changing

159-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with

212-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In

265-590: A bid, leading to speculation of a bidding war, but Apollo Global withdrew and supported the Fortress bid. On 6 August 2021, the Fortress-led consortium increased its offer to £6.7 billion ($ 9.29 billion) after Silchester International Investors , Morrisons largest shareholder, said the previous offer was too low. The Morrisons board once again recommended the deal to shareholders. However, on 19 August 2021 an improved offer of £7 billion from CD&R

318-516: A businessperson writes a trade name on a contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from

371-509: A few weeks, Safeway carrier bags were replaced by those of Morrisons, and Morrisons own-brand products began to appear in Safeway stores. Originally 52 shops were to be compulsorily divested after the takeover. Two closed for other reasons, John Lewis Partnership purchased 19 to be part of its Waitrose chain, J Sainsbury plc purchased a further 14, and Tesco bought 10 in October 2004. At

424-492: A fifth of the 23p going to UK farmers. Morrisons later changed the scheme in 2017 such that the total additional payment went directly to a selected group of 300 British farmers. A smaller group of 50 farmers were tasked with supplying the range, with additional welfare standards applied to the production of the milk. From March 2020, the company aimed to cut down 3,000 management roles, and created 7,000 shop-floor jobs as part of its restructuring plan. In December 2020, Morrisons

477-584: A number of private equity firms about taking the company private. They were said to be unhappy about the company's financial performance, and Dalton Philips's corporate strategy. Following a new three-year corporate strategy revealed in March 2014 aimed at recovering sales and market share, at Morrisons Annual General Meeting in June 2014 Morrisons former chairman Sir Ken Morrison criticised Dalton Philips's approach. Morrison's nephew Chris Blundell, who controls most of

530-464: A pre-tax loss of £33 million. Morrisons' net debt obligations had been £3.2bn before the CD&;R takeover, and had increased to £7.5 billion. A former senior Morrisons executive said "[CD&R] paid too much and now they have to claw that back". Unlike any other UK supermarket, Morrisons has a manufacturing arm including abattoirs , vegetable packing houses and fish processing plants comprising

583-458: A registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name, is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of

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636-478: A vertically integrated supply chain. An industry insider suggested that this may be sold, which would mean a complete change of course for the company. On 6 November 2023 Rami Baitiéh succeeded David Potts as Chief Executive. The financial results have been as follows: In July 2020, Morrisons had 497 superstores in the United Kingdom, including those it retained following its purchase of Safeway plc. Until 2004, Morrisons superstores were largely concentrated in

689-517: A well-publicised crash in UK milk prices in November 2015, Morrisons launched a variety milk labelled 'For Farmers', with a large Union Jack on the label, claiming an extra 23p per 4-pint bottle would to be given to farmers – 10p per litre. Following complaints, Morrisons admitted that the extra money was actually paid to the supplier of the milk, Arla Foods , to be divided among several countries, with only

742-454: Is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using a simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between

795-500: Is nearby, and there is a rotisserie counter named Oven Fresh . Following the failure of the supermarket's M Local stores, Morrisons returned to the convenience market in 2016 with a new chain of five trial forecourt stores under the Morrisons Daily brand in partnership with Motor Fuel Group . Soon after in 2017, this trial ended with the stores closed and a new partnership was formed with Rontec to open 40 stores across

848-586: The English Midlands and the North of England , but had expanded southwards, beginning with a store at Erith , Greater London, which opened in 1998. In April 2021, Morrisons said that it would replace plastic bags with paper bags to cut plastic use. Most Morrisons superstores have produce in Market Street . Packaged meat is near or next to a butcher's counter, a delicatessen with cheese fridge

901-654: The Isle of Man , the Douglas store was sold to Shoprite and the Ramsey store was sold to The Co-operative Food . The Gibraltar store was originally offered for sale, but was ultimately converted. In November 2006, plans were submitted for the extension and redevelopment of the store to introduce the full Morrisons format. In September 2005, the company announced the closure of former Safeway depots in Kent, Bristol and Warrington with

954-586: The North of England but, with the takeover of Safeway in that year, the company's presence increased significantly in the South of England , Wales and Scotland. As of February 2021, Morrisons employed 110,000 employees and served around 11 million customers each week. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) in October 2021. Many changes were made after

1007-466: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use

1060-564: The Better Chicken Commitment (BCC), banning the use of fast-growing breeds susceptible to lameness and heart attacks, and giving birds natural light and more space. The company responded that they cared about animal welfare, required suppliers to maintain standards, and had asked for a full investigation. In June 2021, Morrisons rejected a £5.5 billion takeover bid from private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) believing it "significantly undervalued"

1113-823: The CEO of Marks & Spencer in December 2009, and Dalton Philips was appointed as his replacement in January 2010. In 2010, Morrisons signed a deal with budget retailer Peacocks , the first concession store opened as part of a refurbishment at the retailer's store in Idle, Bradford. The Peacocks section was rolled out into other stores before launching its own children's-wear brand 'Nutmeg' into 85 stores on 21 March 2013. The first Morrisons M local store opened in Ilkley , Yorkshire, in 2011. All M Local stores were later rebranded as

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1166-570: The Channel Islands to the Morrisons Daily format, including the former Benest's of Millbrook store at Lisbon House. A partnership agreement in 2021 saw Morrisons and McColl's committing to the conversion of 300 existing McColl's convenience stores into Morrisons Daily stores over the next three years, following a successful trial of 30 conversions in the months prior. This extension is of a deal, first struck in 2017, which saw Morrisons acting as McColl's sole supplier until at least 2027, with

1219-404: The Morrisons Daily fascia. In February 2023, 16 months after the CD&R takeover of the 124-year-old chain, it was reported as having "fallen into a hole that just keeps getting deeper". The chain's underlying profits had dropped by 15% to £828 million in the year ending 30 October; sales dropped by 4.2% despite prices increasing sharply—implying an even greater loss in volume of sales—for

1272-513: The Morrisons takeover, to Asda. Waitrose purchased five stores in 2005, followed by six more on 18 July 2006, including the former Safeway store in Hexham , Northumberland, which became England's most northerly Waitrose branch. In May 2005, Morrisons announced the closure of Safeway and BP joint venture convenience store/petrol station. Under the deal, the premises had been split 50/50 between

1325-568: The Somerfield supermarket chain in March 2009, it was required to sell a number of stores by the Competition Commission . Morrisons purchased 35 stores from the combined group, mostly trading under the Somerfield name. These new stores were the first of more than 100 identified by Morrisons for expansion into smaller supermarkets, with the aim of having a store within 15 minutes of every UK home. Marc Bolland departed to become

1378-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,

1431-507: The accounting systems six weeks before the transaction was completed, leading to a series of profit warnings being issued by Morrisons, poor financial results and a reversion to manual systems. The programme of store conversions from Safeway to Morrisons was the largest of its kind in British retail history, focusing initially on the retained stores which were freehold , over 25,000 sq ft (2,300 m) with separate car parks. Within

1484-504: The acquisition, and it was felt that Morrisons' "northern" format did not work as well in the south. To reinvigorate its new national image, Morrisons appointed Dutchman Marc Bolland , the chief operating officer of Heineken , as its new Chief Executive. On 13 March 2008, Sir Ken Morrison retired as chairman after 55 years at the company, and was made Honorary President. When the Co-operative Group completed its takeover of

1537-573: The company in 1952, aged 21. In 1958, Morrisons opened a small shop in the city centre. It was the first self-service store in Bradford, the first store to have prices on its products, and it had three checkouts. The company opened its first supermarket , "Victoria", in the Girlington district of Bradford in 1961. In 1967, Morrisons became a public limited company listed on the London Stock Exchange . In March 2004, Morrisons acquired Safeway ,

1590-486: The company in March 2015. Morrisons also announced the closure of ten loss-making stores (eight former Netto UK stores and two former Somerfield stores, bought under Philips's leadership) in Cramlington , Accrington , Ravensthorpe , Bransholme ( Hull ), Telford , West Bromwich , Wallasey ( Seacombe ), Newton le Willows , Rugby and Crawley . In addition, six unprofitable convenience stores would close, and

1643-454: The company's forecourts. In 2019, Morrisons Daily stores operated by MPK Garages and Essar began to trade under a similar deal. In 2018, Morrisons agreed on a franchise and wholesale supply deal with SandpiperCI to operate 43 Morrisons Daily convenience stores in the Channel Islands, which were previously operated under the Nisa brand. By 2022, SandpiperCI had converted 19 of their stores in

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1696-481: The company. In July 2021 a bid to take over Morrisons, led by US private equity firm, Fortress Investment Group and backed by the Canada Pension Plan and Koch Industries , valuing the company at £6.3 billion ($ 8.7 billion), was made. This bid was provisionally accepted by the board, subject to shareholder approval, on 3 July 2021. Following the Fortress bid, Apollo Global were considering

1749-484: The corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when

1802-442: The cost of 720 jobs. In September 2015, Morrisons announced the sale of its 140 M Local stores to Mike Greene and Greybull Capital , to be re-branded My Local , for £25 million and that it planned to close 11 supermarkets, with a reported 900 jobs lost. In January 2016 Morrisons bosses announced that a further 7 stores would be closing to help optimise their existing assets and address areas of underperformance. Following

1855-534: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where

1908-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business

1961-549: The loss of 2,500 jobs. The Kent depot was later sold to upmarket rival Waitrose, and the Warrington one to frozen food rival Iceland. Part of the Bristol depot was sold to Gist. The store conversion process was completed on 24 November 2005 when the final Safeway fascia disappeared from the UK. Following the acquisition of Safeway, Morrisons encountered a number of difficulties. The company had issued five profits warnings since

2014-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of

2067-418: The remaining family stake in the supermarket, agreed, telling told the board it needed rescuing, and welcomed the decision by chairman Sir Ian Gibson to leave the business in June 2015. In June 2014, Morrisons announced that plans had been put in place to cut 2,600 jobs as a result of changes to its management structure. Morrisons stated that it had trialled the new structure and believed that better performance

2120-411: The roll-out of the convenience store chain would be slowed, as a batch of 40 sites would no longer be bought. In June 2015, Morrisons cut the price of 200 'everyday items' by up to 33% The store chain's like-for-like sales had fallen by 2.9% in the first three months of 2015, after falling 2.6% in the last three months of 2014. The company responded by deciding to 'simplify' its head office in Bradford at

2173-727: The short-lived " My Local " chain in 2015. In December 2012, a television advertising campaign which showed a dog being given pieces of Christmas pudding was criticised by the British Veterinary Association and the Kennel Club , as raisins are harmful to dogs. Morrisons said that veterinarian advice they received said that there would be minimal risk. In May 2013, Morrisons formed a partnership with Ocado to use its technology systems and distribution infrastructure to help launch its own online service. Richard Pennycook, who had joined Morrisons in October 2005,

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2226-533: The supermarket chain on a 25-year agreement, for a rent of £5.4 million per annum. Following a 3.1% drop in like-for-like sales in the Christmas 2014 trading period, Sir Ian Gibson stood down six months early and was replaced by former Tesco chief financial officer Andrew Higginson at the end of January 2015. On 25 February 2015, Morrisons named former Tesco director David Potts as its new chief executive. Dalton Philips and five other executives also left

2279-649: The supermarket supplying over 1,200 of their stores. Morrisons converted all McColl's stores to the Morrisons Daily fascia by September 2024. Trading as In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a ) is used to designate a trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as "

2332-459: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who

2385-501: The takeover, and the company was struggling financially. Morrisons is the fifth largest supermarket in the United Kingdom by market share (8.8%), overtaken for fourth place by Aldi in September 2022. The company was founded in June 1899 by William Morrison, who started the business as an egg and butter merchant in Rawson Market, Bradford , England, operating under the name of Wm Morrison Limited . His son Ken Morrison took over

2438-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file

2491-572: The time Morrisons chose not to move into the convenience store sector, although it later did so with its M Local stores. In accordance with this policy decision, 114 smaller 'Safeway Compact' stores were sold to rival supermarket chain Somerfield in 2004 in a two-part deal worth £260.2 million. In Northern Ireland Morrisons sold the Safeway stores , and a store in Bangor that opened after

2544-533: The two companies. Morrisons also sold Safeway's Channel Islands stores, in Guernsey and Jersey , to CI Traders where the stores continued to trade as Safeway , although the products they sold carried the brand names of chains such as Iceland . In 2011, Sandpiper CI/CI Traders sold the Channel Island Safeway stores to Waitrose, and the Safeway brand disappeared from the Channel Islands. On

2597-534: Was achieved via these methods. These cuts would primarily affect department manager and supervisory positions. Morrisons claimed they would create 1,000 jobs in Morrisons ;M local convenience stores and 3,000 in new supermarkets. Following this, Morrisons sold its distribution centre in Kent to a real estate investment company for £97.8 million. The depot in Kemsley was to be immediately leased back to

2650-647: Was criticised for retaining Paula Vennells on its board, despite her role as CEO of the Post Office during the subpostmasters' scandal and criticism of her leadership there as "both cruel and incompetent" by a Conservative peer and various MPs. Vennells eventually left her role as a non-executive director on 26 April 2021. On 16 August 2021, a worker led a protest against the company for raising deformed birds at four of its intensive farms. The Independent reported that campaigners from Open Cages, Animal Equality UK and The Humane League UK were urging Morrisons to sign

2703-553: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In

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2756-459: Was recommended by the board of Morrisons to shareholders; the board dropped its recommendation for Fortress's offer. In October 2021 the £7 billion CD&R bid was accepted; the takeover was approved by the High Court on 26 October 2021. In May 2022, Morrisons purchased McColl's in a pre-packaged insolvency arrangement with its administrator, with all stores eventually converting to

2809-459: Was replaced as Chief Financial Officer at Morrisons in June 2013 by Trevor Strain, previously Finance Director Corporate. In February 2014, it emerged that younger members of the founding Morrison family, who own 10% of the company and who are thought to include two of Honorary President Sir Ken Morrison's children, William Morrison Junior and Andrea Shelley, along with Sir Ken Morrison's niece and her husband, Susan and Nigel Pritchard, had approached

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