Musgraves is investing £66 million in its SuperValu and Centra stores to help them compete against British-owned multiples in the Republic.

The money is part of a £125 million investment programme to be undertaken over the next 18 months. The £66 million will be spent this year on 47 SuperValu and 56 Centra stores in the form of extensions and revamps, and on similar work on the remaining 348 stores in the chains next year.

The company hopes the new investment will see the stores expanding the 20 per cent share of the retail market they currently hold.

All Centra and SuperValu stores have to adopt a certain style and layout and this must be completed within the 18-month period.

The managing director of Musgraves, Mr Seamus Scally, said the investment would give independent retailers a chance to hold the "severe outside competition from multiples at bay". The rest of the £125 million will be used to complete the company's investment in its centralised, chilled and fresh food distribution centre, which is on a 15-acre site in Lucan, Co Dublin.

A small portion of the funds is committed to information technology, Musgraves cash and carry network and "other projects".

The money being spent on the stores includes an upgrading of 23 SuperValu stores in Northern Ireland, which were acquired from Wellworths last year.

Mr Scally said the company's continuing mission was "to support and defend the independent supermarket business in the Republic and Northern Ireland".

He added that, in the Republic, the independent sector accounted for 47 per cent of total retailing sales, whereas in Northern Ireland it was about 29 per cent.

He said he envisaged significant further growth in the Northern Ireland market based on these figures.

Mr Scally announced the investment at an awards ceremony held by the retail magazine Checkout at which he was named the magazine's Person of the Year.