IRISH WHOLESALE and retail grocery group BWG has acquired Donegal-based rival Morris Brothers for an undisclosed sum.

Founded in 1952, Morris Brothers is a family-run wholesale and retail grocery company based in Convoy, Co Donegal.

It has annual revenues of about €30 million, is profitable and employs 30 staff.

The company’s owners, Fintan Morris and Joseph Morris, and its employees are remaining with the business.

Morris Brothers services more than 450 retail businesses across the northwest of Ireland.

BWG said the deal would strengthen its wholesale operations, especially in the Donegal, Sligo, Cavan, Mayo and Roscommon regions.

It will also provide the enlarged group with increased buying power.

Commenting on the deal yesterday, Leo Crawford, group chief executive of BWG, said: “It’s a statement of intent that we are growing our business.”

Mr Crawford said trading “remains challenging” in the Irish grocery market as Government-imposed austerity continues to dampen consumer confidence here.

“We’re reasonably pleased with how the business is trading but the grocery sector is not a market showing growth.

“The question is, have we reached the bottom or not? I wouldn’t say with 100 per cent certainty that there will be a recovery next year.”

Mr Crawford said BWG wholesale revenues in the Republic declined by 3 per cent last year to about €1 billion.

“We were happy with that, given the tough market and given the price deflation,” he said.

BWG supplies goods to a large network of Spar and Mace convenience stores.

It also now operates 23 cash-and-carry outlets around the country following the Morris deal.

It directly employs 900 people and more than 20,000 staff through its network of shops.

In a statement, Fintan Morris, a director of Morris Brothers, said he was “delighted” to be part of BWG and that he looked forward to working with the company to “sustain continued growth in our business”.