Supermarket giant, Morrisons, has racked up £1.5 billion of losses, a year after being bought by a US private equity firm.

The retailer, which has supermarkets in Gloucester, Cheltenham, Nailsworth and Tewkesbury, was snapped up by CD&R for £7 billion in 2021, in a debt-fuelled deal, as reported by Retail Gazette.

The deal saw £6.1 billion of debt added to Morrisons' balance sheet, leading to big interest payments and high exposure to increases in borrowing rates.

The loss of £1.5bn, posted on the Companies House website, also accounts for £400m costs that the business took as interest payments.

Morrisons was previously the UK's fourth biggest supermarket and reported an annual profit of £201 million in 2020. Its place in the Big 4 was taken by Aldi last year.

It hasn't been a good week for the retailer, which earlier this week put more than 1,000 jobs at risk with its plans to ditch at least 83 property maintenance suppliers.