Nisa has agreed a new short-term supply contract with McColl’s Retail Group to cover the McColl’s stores that were previously supplied by Palmer and Harvey, which went into administration last week.

All of the McColl’s stores previously supplied by Palmer and Harvey – roughly 700 in number - will receive ambient stock delivered through existing Nisa-supplied McColl’s convenience stores, for onward transfer by McColl’s teams.

Arnu Misra, interim ceo of Nisa, said: “I’m very pleased that Nisa has been selected by McColl’s to further support them at this crucial time. We have a highly flexible distribution model that enables us to scale quickly to members needs and as demand dictates. As a result, we will continue to manage both existing and new members without impacting our traditionally high levels of service, especially over the peak trading period.”

Earlier this year, McColl’s signed a deal with supermarket chain Morrisons for the multiple grocer to supply its entire estate of 1,300 convenience stores and 350 newsagents, rolling out from January 2018. Nisa’s contract to supply McColl’s core c-store estate expires in June 2018, with a further agreement to supply the 298 stores acquired from the Co-op Group scheduled to run until March 2020.

In its annual results statement this morning, McColl’s Retail Group stated:

“We were both sad and disappointed to learn that Palmer and Harvey (P&H) was placed into administration on 28 November 2017. P&H has been a long-time partner of the McColl’s business and we have been grateful through the years for their continuing support.

“Our priority is to minimise any potential impact on customers. We are in ongoing discussions with our supply chain partners, and manufacturers, with a contingency plan already in place to ensure continuity of supply to the around 700 newsagents and smaller convenience stores, previously supplied by P&H, within our estate of 1,611 stores.”