TESCO and Sainsbury were backed last night to emerge triumphant as the race for the North-East's remaining Safeway stores hotted up.

The two chains are expected to snap up the bulk of the stores shed by Morrisons as a result of its £3bn takeover of Safeway.

But the carve-up could leave Northern rival Asda in the cold, The Northern Echo has learnt.

Marketing solutions firm CACI, which has carried out research into who is likely to buy what, assessed 30 locations across the country, including nine in the North-East and North Yorkshire, where Safeway stores are up for grabs.

It has predicted that stores in Coulby Newham, near Middlesbrough, Darlington's Victoria Road and Redcar will eventually be bought by Tesco as they best fit its customer profile.

Sainsbury's, meanwhile, is likely to move into Ripon, Heaton, in Newcastle, Team Valley, in Gateshead, and Whitehouse Farm, in Stockton.

Asda is already barred from bidding from a large number of Safeway stores due to its strong presence in the region and is not predicted to win any of the nine.

A question mark remains over Safeway at Ingleby Barwick, near Stockton, which Morrisons wants to keep, while the Safeway store in Scarborough could be bought by a retailer outside of the big three.

Paul Langstone, an analyst with CACI, said that the Safeway in Redcar was a "store to watch" and was likely to be subject to intense competition from the rival chains.

Morrisons is being forced to sell 52 stores across the country by the Office of Fair Trading in order to maintain local competition.

Last night John Church, a spokesman for Tesco, which last week returned record £1.7bn profits, said: "We are always interested in picking up good stores at a good price and we are looking at what is available."

Sainsbury's has already announced its intention to join the sale."