Not the most exciting share, but with safeway conversion now complete (and how much better the old safeway stores are now) the shares should start to come back. Already started a nice rise from a recent low. Costs for conversions will still hold the price back but when that is out of the way, should be be nice. 190p

cynic i have not sold CNA i added more yesterday 10070 which i posted 306.99p
the reason i am not selling is the north sea and i think the budget will push these up a lot more . hope that helps and i will buy more on any dips I also added 24468 rsa yesterday and did post it . my buys are there for all to see . have a nice day and enjoy what you have got i have nothing better to do than play the market and i enjoy the ride . beating the book is all i am interested in and when i can not do this i will be no more

make silly comments and expect to be shot at - i should know!

actually, of all the the supermarket shares, this is the one i like most, though i currently also hold tesco

and as an aside
with the olympics ahead, some of the mid market restaurant and similar companies are worth a serious look .... and of course WPP

cynic i do agree but plenty of tome to get in

i rather like RTN and have already bought and MRW of course .... DOM perhaps ....WPP i already hold though quite often trade in and out

UPDATE 2-Morrisons ready for Tesco fresh food assault
08 Mar 2012 - 11:19

* Year pretax profit 935 mln stg vs forecast 922 mln stg

* Revenue 17.7 bln stg, up 7 pct

* Dividend 10.7 pence, up 11 pct

* Sees challenging 2012 but expects profitable growth

* Shares rise 2.5 pct


(Adds detail, CEO, analyst comment, shares)

By James Davey

LONDON, Mar 8 (Reuters) - Britain's fourth-biggest grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets said it is well-placed to resist any attempt by wounded market leader Tesco to make gains in the fresh food battleground after leading the way with its own fresh format stores.

Last year Morrisons launched a new fresh food concept in 12 stores, introducing 350 more fruit and vegetable products, reducing space given over to processed foods and knocking down walls so customers can see its butchers, bakers and fishmongers in action.

The revamped stores posted a 14 percent rise in produce sales, with delicatessen sales up over 40 percent.

Some 48 stores will have the new format by July, at a cost of 1.7 million pounds ($2.7 million) per store.

"This will be a differentiator, this is game-changing stuff," Chief Executive Dalton Philips told reporters.

"We'll have 15 percent of our sales going through these new fresh formats by the end of the first half. It's almost impossible to replicate."

On Monday Tesco began its fight back after a shock post-Christmas profit warning, detailing plans to create 20,000 jobs, open new stores and refresh hundreds of existing stores with a focus on improving its offers of fresh produce, fresh meat, bakery and counter services. [ID:nL5E8E520H]

Morrisons' Philips said: "We're taking the fresh market experience to a whole new level and just moving it right on. We can do that because we've got these craft skills in our business, it's part of our culture.

"You just can't create a butcher or a baker, it takes years and years."


BEAT EXPECTATIONS

The CEO was speaking after Morrisons posted a better-than-expected 8 percent rise in full-year profit, sending its shares 2 percent higher.

Morrisons, which trails Tesco, Wal-Mart's Asda and J Sainsbury in UK market share, posted a profit before tax and one-off items of 935 million pounds in the year to Jan. 29, helped by a focus on fresh foods and low prices.

That compared to analysts' average forecast of 922 million pounds and 869 million pounds made in the previous year.

Turnover rose 7 percent to 17.7 billion pounds, with sales at stores open at least a year up 1.8 percent.

Britain's retailers are mostly struggling as shoppers are hit by rising prices, muted wages growth and government austerity measures, as well as worry about a stagnant housing market, job security and the impact of the euro zone debt crisis.

Morrisons, which raised its dividend by 11 percent to 10.7 pence a share and its capex guidance for 2012 to 1.2 billion pounds, said it anticipated 2012 would be "challenging" but said it expected to deliver profitable growth.

"Given the context of very tough UK food retail trading conditions, we consider this encouraging," said analysts at Credit Suisse.

As well as modernising its core chain, Morrisons, which runs nearly 500 superstores and, unlike rivals, produces much of the food it sells, has been diversifying into non-food, e-commerce and convenience stores.

After trialing three M local convenience stores in 2011 the firm will open 15-20 this year and 50 next year.

Shares in Morrisons, which have lost 11 percent of their value over the last three months, were up 2.49 percent at 291.9 pence at 1110 GMT, valuing the business at 7.3 billion pounds. ($1 = 0.6367 British pounds)


(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Neil Maidment and Hans-Juergen Peters)

((james.davey@thomsonreuters.com)(+44 20 7542 7674)(Reuters Messaging: james.davey.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MORRISONS/

From LEX in the FT.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3/ca7ee678-694c-11e1-9618-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1ot0eitVg

..............helpfully, Carrefour and Delhaize can check out Wm Morrison’s results which were out on the same day. Despite dreadful economic conditions at home, the British supermarket group announced that EPS grew one-10th last year. Its success is partly down to picking two trends that Carrefour and Delhaize did not. First is falling demand for hypermarkets. Last quarter, Carrefour’s French hypermarkets experienced same-store sales drops of about 5 per cent. In contrast, Morrison has trialled local convenience stores in three cities, and will now open a further 70 over the next two years.

Second, Morrison recognised that shoppers remain price sensitive and did not increase prices with inflation. Same-store sales excluding fuel grew 2 per cent last year, compared with inflation of more than double that. In contrast, price rises at Delhaize’s stores sent shoppers out the doors.

By not being too greedy, Morrison’s has found a way to ride out the downturn and avoid the reconstruction pain now necessary at its rivals.

Ex-divi 16th May 2012, 7.53p

Interim Management Statement.

StockMarketWire.com
William Morrison Supermarket said today it has made a satisfactory start to its new financial year, although Q1 like-for-like sales weakened.

Morrisons said as expected, the economic environment for the consumer has remained challenging, with the high price of oil and other commodity prices putting pressure on disposable incomes.

In the first quarter to end-April, total sales excluding fuel were up by 1.5% (3.1% including fuel) and like for like sales were down 1.0% (up 0.9% including fuel).

Morrisons said it continues to focus on the delivery of our previously announced range of strategic and operating initiatives which, combined with a close management of the cost base, gives it confidence of achieving continued profitable growth. An update on progress will be provided at the Interim Results in September.

The group is well advanced on the programme to retire £1bn of equity over the two years to March 2013. To date it has acquired and cancelled 168m shares at a total investment of £491m. The financial position of the Group remains strong.

The uncertain economic background is expected to remain challenging for the consumer and accordingly the Board remains cautious. The performance in the first quarter was broadly in line with expectations and the financial outlook for the year remains unchanged.

3 month low just hit @275p.

Ex-div (7.5p) 16th May
2517

.

my inclination will be to buy back in post div

try saying that in an up-right position.,.

it's ok; i'm tied to the post

Kivver any chance of putting a chart in the header please.

Just breaking out of the range. Pity.

A nice little rise pre divi. Difficult to judge whether it will drop heavily after next wed (i.e sell now with a little profit or wait for divi but expect a drop).

I like to think that my investment decisions are based on a little more than that........occasionally! ;o) Target 285p and will toss the coin again!