Morrisons Sees Half Year Profits Soar

Fri, 11 Sep 2009
 
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Morrisons, the UK’s fourth largest food retailer, has reported a 45 per cent surge in half-year pre-tax profits.

In the six months up to August 2nd, the supermarket chain made an income of £449m after like-for-like sales, excluding the VAT and fuel, rose by 7.8 per cent.

The company’s underlying profits increased by 22 per cent to £359 million, up from £259 million last year, while total turnover rose by 5 per cent to £7.5 billion.

Morrisons said it was continuing to lure bargain-hunting customers from its rivals during the challenging economic climate, adding 1.1 million weekly shoppers over the past two years.

Commenting on the figures, chief executive Marc Bolland, said: "This has been an excellent first-half performance from Morrisons, continuing our run of market-beating sales growth."

"We offer great value to our customers, particularly our offers on fresh food delivered through our own preparation facilities, which have been hugely popular with a growing number of customers."

"The business is performing well in all parts of the country and we are making good progress on our plans to move from national to nationwide."

However, he warned that sales growth would slow in the second half of the year as food price inflation eases.

According to the latest grocery market share figures from analysts TNS Worldpanel, Morrisons saw growth of 9.2 per cent in the 10 weeks to 10 August, outperforming its closest rivals, Asda, Sainsburys and Tesco .

The Bradford-based retailer now holds an 11.2 per cent share off the total UK grocery market.

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