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148 
HL beats Bibby to 000m retail contract
Page 6
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COVER STORY
By Rc,ger Brow, WarkiN„
RETAIL BUYING group NisaToday's has handed DHL a £500m, seven-year, contract to carry out its ambient, frozen and chilled transport operations from April 2011.
The decision comes after the retail buying group ended its 16month tender process for the one company deal that featured a thortlist of six firms, including current transport providers DHL and Bibby Distribution.
However, in a move that added a twist to the process, the Nisa board rejected an indicative takeover offer made by Bibby Line Group on 30 July.
Bibby Line currently owns a 51% stake in Costcutter — NisaToday's biggest member.
Then, on 28 August, Bibby confirmed that Nisa had rejected its second and final offer of £134m to buy the group.
Currently, DHL runs the NisaToday's temperature-controlled operations at Stoke-on-Trent and Harlow, Essex, while Bibby operates the ambient warehouse at Scunthorpe.
Mark O'Bornick, director, re
search and analysis at Analytiqa. says: "There was certainly a greater motivation to Bibby Line's bid for Nisa-Today's than the desire to hold onto its distribution contract.
"Long term, Bibby is keen to add Nisa's 5,000 shops to the 51% stake it already owns in Costcutter, which itself may be increased."
A Bibby spokesman tells CM: "We will continue to deliver a first
class service to Nisa and its members, with whom we have a very close relationship, with professionalism as we honour our contract, which will draw to a close in 2011."
John Sharpe, managing director of central distribution trading and logistics at Nisa-Today's, adds: "This is a positive step to secure and enhance Nisa-Today's supply chain and its workforce. "It also demonstrates our commitment to independent retailers and wholesalers" Chris Sharp, managing director, food retail for DHL Supply Chain says his firm is "hugely excited" about the opportunity to manage Nisa-Today's entire supply chain.