Outgoing Musgrave managing director Séamus Scally was honoured last night when he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual National Quality & Excellence Gala Awards.

The incoming boss of the Musgrave Group has pledged to retain and promote the values which have helped the company develop from a small operator into a €3bn-a-year company.

Seamus Scally (aged 61), the mastermind behind building the SuperValu and Centra chain of stores is to retire as boss of the Musgrave Group, owner of the franchises.

MUSGRAVE Group saw a 3% rise in profits last year to €59.3 million.

NEARLY 2,000 shopkeepers in Britain's Londis convenience store chain were yesterday looking forward to a €47,000 payout after they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a €94 million takeover.

Nearly 2,000 shopkeepers in the Londis convenience store chain were tonight each looking forward to a £31,000 (€46,633) payout after they voted overwhelmingly in favour of a £60m (€90m) takeover.

MUSGRAVE'S plans to take over British retail chain Londis received a setback over the weekend when the owner of the Iceland food chain signalled it may be preparing a counter-bid to challenge the Cork-based group's €90 million offer.

THE Musgrave Group has upped its bid for Londis in Britain by €30 million to €90m in an attempt to achieve its goal of becoming the biggest supplier to independent retail grocers in Ireland and Britain.

THE Musgrave Group is expected to recoup a large portion of the €270 million it spent on acquiring British symbol retail grocery chain Budgens in 2002 when it sells off 172 shops in Britain.

IRELAND’s largest food distributor — Musgrave Group plc — has made a surprise €57m bid for Londis in Britain, which has a turnover of more than €1.4bn.

Musgrave Group Limited have reported pre-tax profits for the 12 months to December 2002 of €57.6m, a 22% increase on the €47.1m recorded for 2001.

By Tommy Barker

Musgrave has made a £231.6m (€360m) offer for Budgens.