11.06.2015 01:05:00
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Tesco Plc -- Moody's: Big Four UK grocery retailers' margin recovery unlikely before fiscal year 2016/17
London, 11 June 2015 -- Moody's Investors Service expects the Big Four's share of the UK grocery retail market to fall by 4% by 2020, with discounters Aldi and Lidl taking a larger slice as they continue to open new stores. While the Big Four's (Tesco Plc (Ba1 stable), Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc (Baa2 negative), Asda Group plc, part of Wal-Mart Store's Inc. (Aa2 stable) and J Sainsbury plc (unrated)) margins are unlikely to recover over the next 12 to 18 months due to further price cuts and ongoing like-for-like sales declines, the UK's continued economic growth and strategies to offset structural changes in the domestic grocery market could support their gradual recovery from fiscal 2016/17.