Sainsbury gathering Wm Low information

WILLIAM LOW, the Scottish supermarket group, was yesterday assembling the information requested by J Sainsbury to help it decide whether to launch a counter-bid to Tesco's pounds 154m offer.

Wm Low said that the information was likely to be delivered to Sainsbury on Monday. Sainsbury, meanwhile, said it was unlikely to make a further statement for the next few days.

Sainsbury's announcement that it was considering a bid for Wm Low took the City by surprise - Sir Ian MacLaurin, Tesco's chairman, had said that he did not expect a rival offer. Few in the City expect Sainsbury to enter the fray as it has never launched a takeover bid and is unlikely to want to get embroiled in a competitive battle. The closest it has come to acquisitions was with Shaws, its US supermarket business, where it took a minority stake, in agreement with Shaws' owners, and added to it gradually.

The possibility of a contest was, however, enough to keep Low's shares buoyant yesterday. They rose 17p to 253p, 28p above the 225p a share on offer from Tesco. Sainsbury's shares fell 2.5p to 397p while Tesco's rose 0.5p to 233p.

Sainsbury has just four stores in Scotland, giving it 4.9 per cent of the market compared with 7.1 per cent for Tesco's 16 stores. Adding Wm Low's 57 stores, and 6.6 per cent share, would significantly boost both their presences, bringing them closer to the market leader Argyll, owner of Safeway, with 16.5 per cent.

Tesco's offer was recommended by Wm Low's directors, headed by chairman James Millar, who said on Thursday that it offered better value for shareholders than Low could achieve as an independent retailer.