Jonathan Miller said McColl’s has a store estate of around 1,430 stores and would look to reduce that to an “optimal estate size” of 1,100 over the next three or four years.

“Those divestments will either be closures or sales to third parties,” he added.

Miller said the UK convenience food market is growing and, as a result, McColl’s would be looking at reducing its estate of newsagents in favour of larger, convenience-focused stores.