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

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!

Holding up well considering the carnage on most other stocks. Suspect tomorrow could be a down day, unless the markets pick up in general, which seems unlikey. My 285p target seems a little optimistic!

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc announces that on 06th June '12 it purchased through Bank of America Merrill Lynch 1,000,000 ordinary shares at an average price of 275.2223 pence per share. The highest price and the lowest price paid for these shares were 276.8 pence and 273.5 pence respectively. The purchased shares will all be held as treasury shares.

Following the above purchase, the Company holds 2,000,000 ordinary shares as treasury shares. The total number of ordinary shares in issue is 2,460,502,277 (excluding ordinary shares held as treasury shares).

City sources have also warned that Morrisons is ‘completely off colour’. Analyst Jonathan Pritchard at stockbroker Oriel said the City was yet to wake up to the prospect that Morrisons would most likely report a decline in profits for the full year to January. Downgrades to the stock

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2156868/Price-war-threat-profit-Tesco-Morrisons.html#ixzz1xOdVI4hF

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2156868/Price-war-threat-profit-Tesco-Morrisons.html

StockMarketWire.com
The supermarket group, Morrison, failed to win total support for its directors' remuneration report at its annual general meeting today.

Shareholders representing 5.11% of the issued share capital voted against the adoption of the report.

..Sir Ken's fears over Morrisons strategy

By Harry Wallop | Telegraph – 1 hour 12 minutes ago

Sir Ken Morrison, the former chief executive of Morrisons, has warned that the retailer’s management team risks losing touch with its customers if it continues to take the shops too upmarket.

Sir Ken, who ran the supermarket business for 55 years, said he was confused over what the current management team was trying to achieve.

He told The Sunday Telegraph : “Morrisons was a company with very clear objectives. Those objectives now are just a little bit more difficult to perceive. You can’t compete with everybody.”

His criticisms will have bite because the company is experiencing a serious wobble in its sales growth and market share. In May it said its underlying sales had fallen for the first time since the departure of Sir Ken in 2004.

Sir Ken said he had no desire to criticise Dalton Philips, the chief executive, adding: “This isn’t personal.”

Mr Philips has pushed the company further south, into convenience stores and introduced various upmarket elements into its new supermarkets. These include more fresh produce such as samphire, five types of chilli, purple potatoes and bottles of fine wine costing upwards of £20.

Sir Ken said: “I’d agree they look more like Waitrose than like Asda (NYSE: WMT - news) . And if that’s what you are looking at and trying to achieve that’s fine.”

He added: “You’ve got to be careful. The public enjoy value. Good value is not simply the price of something.”

Sir Ken was talking a day after he made a public appearance at the supermarket’s annual general meeting. He is no longer a direct shareholder, but is life president and trustee of a trust that holds over 5pc of the company.

He told the AGM: “I believe we are witnessing the creation of a new Safeway (NYSE: SWY - news) with all the inherent problems. I believe the company is preoccupied with many other activities and I fear neglecting the core business is dangerous.”

The disastrous takeover of Safeway (Xetra: 878922 - news) in 2004 led to a string of profit warnings before managers turned things around.

Sir Ken joined Morrisons, which was started by his father William, in 1952 when it was a single market stall in Bradford. He floated it in 1968 and maintained an unbroken record of growing sales and profits until the Safeway deal.

..

Not a big price drop on the day, but Wm Morrison shares fell 3.2p, or 1%, to 265p. It's the latest in a long slide that has seen the price fall around 19% so far this year.

Today's cause was the resignation of finance director Richard Pennycook, who was widely seen as a strong guiding hand. Mr Pennycook has failed to land the top job at the company twice now, so it's perhaps not surprising that he has gone looking elsewhere. But coming at a time when it looks like supermarket growth has stalled in the UK, is it bad news for the sector?

Questor/Telegraoh: Sell

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/markets/questor/9355527/Questor-share-tip-time-to-head-for-Morrison-checkout-amid-strategy-doubt.html