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

3rd Quarter Results

With consumer confidence still fragile and high levels of promotional activity a persistent feature of the market, the trading environment has remained challenging through the period and sales were lower than anticipated. In the quarter to 28 October 2012, total sales* excluding fuel were down by 0.4% (up 0.2% including fuel) and like for like sales* were down 2.1% (down 1.3% including fuel).

The business is making good progress in delivering the strategic initiatives which will provide a solid foundation for our future growth. During the period we have introduced our market leading Fresh Format into a further 35 stores and are on track to meet our target of extending this to 100 stores by the end of this fiscal year. We remain pleased with their progress both in terms of sales performance and customer feedback. Our Own Brand relaunch which will extend to 10,000 products is progressing well and we have made significant progress in the delivery of Evolve, our IT infrastructure project, with the introduction of the crucial supply chain management system. We have also launched Morrisons Cellar, our online wine operation.

Whilst we are encouraged by the progress of these strategic initiatives we recognise the ongoing importance of improving our performance, particularly in the communication of Morrisons key points of difference to our customers and in improving the effectiveness of our promotional activity. We have put in place a number of measures to enable us to achieve this.

We are well advanced on our programme to retire £1bn of equity over the two years to March 2013. To date we have acquired 299m shares at a total investment of £852m. The financial position of the Group remains strong.

Outlook

We expect the market to remain challenging for the remainder of the year. However we continue to manage the business tightly and anticipate that our full year financial performance will be broadly in line with our expectations.


*exc. VAT and reported in accordance with IFRIC 13

- ENDS-

Trading statement monday, don't think it's going to be good news... we'll see.,.

i was surprised to see the other day that Morrison's had taken over a very large Waitrose site on the Chippenham (Wiltshire) ring road

Analysts think No. 4 grocer Wm Morrison Supermarkets will, on Monday, post the worst of the Christmas figures out of the food retailers reporting next week.

Sales at Morrison stores open over a year, excluding fuel, were seen down about 2 percent. That would follow a fiscal third-quarter fall of 2.1 percent and partly reflect the lack of an online presence and minimal convenience store presence.

Indeed, the retail sector's best Christmas performers - all helped by a strong online presence - may have reported already.

Ant & Dec To Front Morrisons' TV Adverts

While the UK's flirtation with a triple-dip recession has cast a shadow over the sector for months and will do little to spark a marked upswing in consumer confidence, Morrison is being targeted in anticipation of weak sales.

Demand to borrow Morrisons stock to sell short over the last month was up 40 percent, Alex Brog at data firm Markit said. "It's not the most shorted in absolute terms, but the rise in the last month has been significant," adding 4.3 percent of the company's stock was out on loan.

.

Trading Statement

The environment over the Christmas period has continued to be challenging with hard pressed consumers increasingly shopping to a budget and vouchering a prominent feature of a highly promotional market. Against this backdrop and the increasing growth of other channels, we have sought to deliver a balance of top line performance and returns.

In the 6 weeks to 30 December total sales* excluding fuel were down by 0.9% (0.5% including fuel). Like for like sales* declined by 2.5% (2.2% including fuel).

Notwithstanding these difficult market conditions, which we expect to continue through 2013, our sales performance in the period was disappointing. This reflects both the need to improve our promotional innovation and the communication of our points of difference, as we highlighted in November, and the accelerating importance of other channels, such as online and convenience, which Morrisons has only recently entered. However we continued to maintain good availability and high standards of service throughout the seasonal peak, a reflection of the continuing strength of our supply chain and the commitment of our colleagues.

The Group's financial position remains strong and we expect full year net debt to be in the range of £2.1bn - £2.2bn. Our two year programme to retire £1 billion of equity, originally announced in March 2011, is well advanced. To date we have acquired 329m shares at a total investment of £931m.

DC - What's the situation re shorting of the stock, has it increased since your post 335 ? If so why the rise today, just lazy sorry curious.

There was 6.1% on loan as of the 6th Feb.

I think the interest is speculative as they hit 4+ year lows on Friday?

This reads interesting Chris -
may follow.

Gwynn fears Morrisons could bear the brunt of the discount drive given that it attracts bargain hunters.



http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/columns/broker-spotlight/12063/broker-round-up-thomas-cook-tesco-morrisons-supergroup-barclays-12063.html

I'm afraid they are to far behind the times. Only just thinking of an internet delivery service. I can only see them going south. MVO. sorry

Thanks DC.

Morrisons’ shares saw a welcome rise yesterday as the timing of the horsemeat scandal with a new advertising campaign promoting its 100 per cent British beef credentials struck a chord with angry consumers.

The Bradford-based supermarket’s new campaign features TV presenters Ant and Dec showing how Morrisons can track its meat from farm to plate.

Yesterday the scandal escalated following revelations from a meat lorry driver about serious daily breaches of safety regulations.

The un-named driver said just two companies, Morrisons and Waitrose, had impressed him with the rigorous checks they make on every delivery.

Speaking to Sky News, the driver said: “I only shop and feed my kids food from Morrisons and Waitrose because I see how they operate.

“In fact it is a joke amongst the drivers that it is a pain to deliver to Morrisons because they check everything – it takes ages and they often turn stuff away if it isn’t up to scratch.”

Analyst Caroline Gulliver at Espirito Santo said: “We think consumer trust in processed value meat products has taken a knock and note Morrisons may benefit given its new advertising campaign starring Morrisons’ own butchers alongside Ant and Dec.”

on that basis, i'm surprised there's no follow through today ...... used to be a fan of MRW (as a share!), but have not held since the days of 300p ..... perhaps time to reconsider

Morrisons appears to be the biggest winner from the horsemeat scandal after the supermarket chain reported an 18 per cent rise at its fresh meat counters in the wake of revelations over tainted food. The retailer said it had posted the double-digit increase since horse DNA was first identified in Tesco value beef burgers. It published the sales data as another study found 45 per cent of shoppers would avoid the meat aisles of chains found selling the contaminated meat. [The Guardian]

Morrisons buys 49 Blockbuster stores

Morrisons is to buy 49 stores from the failed Blockbuster film rental chain, the supermarket has announced.

The Bradford-based retailer will use the purchase to build a new convenience store franchise, especially in London and the South East.

The converted "Morrisons M" local shops should open by late summer, creating 1,000 jobs, Morrisons said.

Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc
18 February 2013

Appointment of non-executive Director

The Board of Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC today announces the appointment of Richard Gillingwater CBE as a non-executive Director of the Group. Richard will take up his new position on 1 March 2013.

Richard is currently the Chairman of CDC Group and the Senior Independent Director of Hiscox Ltd, Helical Bar Plc and SSE Plc. He is a Trustee of the British Council, and a member of the advisory boards of TheCityUK and of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. He will also become Chairman of Henderson Group plc in May. He was previously the Dean of Cass Business School, CEO and then Chairman of the Shareholder Executive and Joint Head of Global Corporate Finance at BZW. He has been a non-executive Director of P&O, Debenhams, Tomkins, Qinetiq Group and Kidde.

Sir Ian Gibson, Chairman of Morrisons, said: "I am pleased to welcome Richard to the Morrisons Board. He brings very significant financial and capital markets experience to the Group and I am sure will make a valuable contribution to the Board."

Richard Gillingwater said: "I am delighted to be joining the Board of Wm Morrison Supermarkets Plc and look forward, as a member of the Board, to making a contribution to the continued successful evolution of Morrisons."

In relation to the appointment, it is confirmed that there are no further details to be disclosed under paragraphs 9.6.13 (1) to (6) of the Listing Rules.

Profits sink at Morrisons

WM MORRISON will reveal a £60m drop in profits this week, underlining the scale of the challenge facing Dalton Philips, its chief executive.

The slump has been expected since the supermarket chain emerged as the big loser of the Christmas period, with like-for-like sales down 2.5% in the six weeks to December 30. Analysts have steadily trimmed their forecasts for pre-tax profits from more than £1bn to just under £880m — a 6% decline on the previous year.

Morrisons has lagged Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco in opening convenience stores and selling groceries online.


Invesco buys in to Morrisons’ online vision

Neil Woodford, from Invesco, now holds nearly 8pc of the retailer’s stock. Morrisons is due to update the market on its plans for growth this week in its end-of-year results.
The development of an online service and a push into the smaller, convenience store market are thought to be at the heart of the strategy.
Mr Woodford’s move follows the decision by one of the biggest shareholders in Morrisons to sell more than half of its stake following poor Christmas sales.
BlackRock owned more than 10pc of Morrisons and was the largest single investor. However, it sold off 155m shares in January for around £400m and now owns 4.2pc of Morrisons stock.

Climbing on the back of finals thursday, which i think are doubful may sell before close tomorrow.,.