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

MRW Morrisons Supermarket,broken through resistance. First target would be 215p. Give it a few hours for confirmation. Im long already.

MRW Morrisons Supermarket,broken through resistance. First target would be 215p. Give it a few hours for confirmation. Im long already.

The catalyst was a downbeat note from analyst Bruno Monteyne at Bernstein, which basically concluded the UK did not need Morrisons. Monteyne, who has an underperform rating and 140p price target, said:



http://www.theguardian.com/business/marketforceslive/2015/jan/28/ftse-higher-despite-greek-woes-but-morrisons-hit-by-downbeat-note

here it is ...
* Morrisons , down 6.1 pct, heads for biggest one-day drop since Mar 2014, with traders blaming bearish note from Bernstein
* Broker calls co "round peg in search of a square hole"; says place been taken by the discounters & co does not know yet know what it can offer UK consumers that is a valid alternative & sufficiently different from Asda & discounters
* Trading volume in stock relatively strong at almost 1.5 times the 90-day daily avg
* Fellow grocer Sainsbury's another big UK blue-chip faller, down 3.2 pct


sp finished down 12.2 at 186.25

I signed up for home delivery and received it. What crap. 6 exchanges ie, didnt have my first choice, veg looked 2 to 3 days old and frozen foods were more or less thawing out.

Rang up and complained and had a right job with them.

Good job I had paid by credit card.

Steer well clear.

Tried Ocardo for a couple of weeks for waitrose food but not as good as they make out.

Tesco and Asda I have also tried..... average.

Cant beat Sainsburys In my opinion. You pay a bit more but its far better quality and delivered by polite and helpful drivers.

Will even put it away for you in the fridge etc etc, brill say for pensioners and disabled no extra charge, not wanting to rush off like most other supermarkets.

Cannot beat Sains beef.

I think you can DC, just try some of this - www.donaldrussell.com.It arrives freezer packed and it's really lovely.

DB - donald russell has a well earned reputation for supplying some for the best beef in the land, though personally, i would never ever freeze meat

ocado we have used a couple of times and found it excellent

sainsbury's i only ever use for fresh veg - my local shop has worked out that that is what the town wants - and sometimes some beers and a bit of ordinary household goods ..... wouldn't touch them for fish or chicken or meat

beloved buys waitrose organic chicken - i'ld rather buy from our butcher/fishmonger - and wouldn't buy fish from any of them

Last time we called in at Morrisons (Friday, late afternoon) I was not impressed at all.

1. Just outside the store entrance the trolley store roller shutter door had jammed shut so we had to walk all the way around the side to access the TS by the side door.

"An engineeer has been sent for."

2. Meanwhile, the car park was littered with loads of trollies which could have been collected and quite easily stored outside the store near the entrance on the paving.
I could not believe, that we actually had to turn the car round when we left and go out of the car park by another vehicle aisle because the aisle we picked first was actually blocked with trollies!

3. We wondered if the store is currently "managerless"? Hmmm? But what about the assistant managers? Where were they?

4. Loads of empty shelves (obviously because of low stock levels rather than busy buying) and lots of poor quality produce blatantly evident. The famous humidifier on the fresh produce stall was a joke! Some produce was drowning through 'over watering'. Some was dead (yes, actually dead!) because it had been out of the water for far too long. It was strongly evident that nobody had been around for ages who actually cared about it enough to do anything to tidy things up.

Spiffing chart LOL!!!

David Potts Appointed Chief Executive Officer

Final Results

PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 1 FEBRUARY 2015
A focus on building momentum


Financial summary
· Free cash flow pre-dividend of £785m
· Generated £42m of cash post-dividend and pre-property disposals
· Total turnover down 4.9% to £16.8bn (2013/14: £17.7bn)
· Like-for-like (LFL) sales (ex-fuel/ex-VAT) down 5.9% (2013/14: down 2.8%)
· Underlying profit before tax(1) down 52% to £345m (2013/14: £719m(2)), around the mid-point of the guidance range set in March 2014
· Underlying earnings per share(1) down 53% to 10.9p (2013/14: 23.1p(2))
· Property impairment £1,273m, primarily due to market conditions
· Loss before tax £792m (2013/14: Loss of £176m)
· Final dividend of 9.62p. Total dividend up 5% to 13.65p (2013/14: 13.0p), in line with commitment given in March 2014
· Operating working capital improvement of £206m, in line with guidance
· Property disposal proceeds of £448m as guided, profits of £131m achieved
· Net debt reduced by £477m to £2,340m (2013/14: £2,817m)

Strategic and operating highlights

For 2014/15:
· Initiated price re-set in March 2014, with a series of price cuts since
· £315m invested in the customer proposition
· Improving trend in LFL and volume KPIs through the year
· £224m cost savings achieved, £1bn three-year target on track
· Match & More card launched

From 2015/16:
· New CEO, David Potts, starts in the business on 16 March
· Focus on improving the customer offer and building trading momentum
· Increased investment in customer proposition planned for 2015/16
· Continue to prioritise capital discipline, with plans for further cost savings, improvement in working capital and lower capital expenditure
· Ongoing development of IT platform, including first sales-based ordering trials
· Further development of online model
· M local roll-out slowed significantly, proposition and site selection criteria to be reviewed. Proposed closure of 23 M local stores during 2015/16
· Dividend of not less than 5p per share for 2015/16

Interim Management Statement

Q1 Trading Statement - 13 weeks to 3 May 2015

In the 13 weeks to 3 May, total sales* excluding fuel were down 1.1% (down 5.1% including fuel) and like-for-like* (LFL) sales were down 2.9% (6.6% including fuel). Online contributed 1.0% to LFL during the period.

David Potts joined the business as CEO on 16 March. Our priorities are to improve the customers' shopping trip and make our core supermarkets strong again. We are listening hard to customers and colleagues and, wherever possible, we are responding quickly.

As previously announced we closed more stores than we opened during the period, which led to a net reduction in selling space of over 50,000 square feet. In addition, we are taking steps to simplify our Head Office, and anticipate incurring associated one-off costs of £30m-£40m during 2015/16.

The financial position of the Group remains strong, with further good progress during the period. Net debt fell by around £150m, to £2.2bn compared to £2.3bn at the end of 2014/15.

David Potts, Chief Executive, said:

"My initial impressions from my first seven weeks are of a business eager to listen to customers and improve. I have been very pleased by the desire and support of colleagues, and by the genuine warmth and affection for Morrisons shared by both colleagues and customers.

"This is a business with many attributes, some unique. Our task is to use those advantages to improve the shopping trip for customers and create value."

Outlook

We anticipate that underlying profit before tax will be higher in the second half than the first.

A full assessment of the business is underway, and we will provide a more detailed update at the time of the Group's interim results in September. However, as outlined at the 2014/15 preliminary results, the focus continues to be to invest more for customers in order to build trading momentum.

*For supermarkets, online and convenience stores, reported exc.VAT and in accordance with IFRIC 13.


more..

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yum - poor results expected profits likely to be circa 25% down next report.....................................

Morrisons-set-announce-47-per-cent-drop-profits

The supermarket giant’s interim results will show that its profit before taxes fell from £239million to £125million, according to the consensus forecast of City analysts.

Morrisons to sell 140 M local convenience stores

Morrisons has agreed to sell 140 M local convenience stores for a consideration of c.£25m in cash, to a team led by retail entrepreneur Mike Greene and backed by Greybull Capital LLP. Morrisons will retain five M local stores, which are either on forecourts or will be converted to small Morrisons supermarkets.

more..

INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE HALF YEAR TO 2 AUGUST 2015

Financial summary

· H1 like-for-like (LFL) sales (ex-fuel/ex-VAT) down 2.7%, Q2 LFL down 2.4%
· Total turnover down 5.1% to £8.1bn (2014/15: £8.5bn)
· Underlying profit before tax(1) (UPBT) down 35% to £117m (2014/15: £181m)
· UPBT £141m pre-restructuring costs (2014/15: £216m)
· Free cash flow pre-dividend of £479m (2014/15: £423m)
· Generated £64m of cash, post-dividend and pre-property disposals
· Underlying earnings per share(1) (EPS) down 35% to 3.73p (2014/15: 5.74p)
· Profit before tax £126m (2014/15: £239m)
· Operating working capital improvement of £125m
· Property disposal proceeds of £181m, profit of £96m achieved
· Impairment and provision for onerous contracts of £87m
· Interim dividend of 1.50p (2014/15: 4.03p). Full year dividend confirmed at not less than 5.00p
· Net debt reduced by £254m since year end, to £2,086m

Strategic and operating highlights

· Listening programme shaping new strategy
· Six priorities to build on our strengths and improve the customer shopping trip:

1. To be more competitive
2. To serve customers better
3. Find local solutions
4. Develop popular and useful services
5. To simplify and speed up the organisation
6. To make the core supermarkets strong again

· Progress being made on the six priorities and customer satisfaction improving
· Key appointments to the new Executive team
· £1bn cost savings programme on-track, a further £189m delivered in first half
· Substantial proposition re-investment, up year-on-year to £181m in first half
· £2bn operating free cash flow target on-track for 2014/15-2016/17
· Sale of 140 M local convenience stores announced yesterday
· Proposed closure of a further 11 supermarkets announced today

Morrisons says Q3 like-for-like sales down 2.6% http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=5146872

Morrison's delivered an unexpectedly solid Christmas trading update in a welcome turnaround for the supermarket group under new chief executive David Potts. Like-for-like (LFL) sales were up 0.2%, some way better than the 2% decline predicted by analysts, helped by online grocery sales doubling and LFL transaction numbers up 1.3% on the same period last year in core supermarkets.

Ouch Morrisons.


Company News

Morrisons' price campaign faces new Aldi threat

Fri, 12 February 2016



Sainsbury (J) Quote more

Price: 239.10

Chg: 2.70

Chg %: 1.14%

Date: 16:15



FTSE 100 Quote


Price: 5,683.46 Chg: 146.49 Chg %: 2.65% Date: 16:15

(ShareCast News) - Discounter Aldi has reacted to Morrisons' recent ramping up of price competition with a wave of price reductions and a new advertising campaign.
After Morrisons' launched its new 'price crunch' campaign at the start of the month, Aldi said it has cut swathes of prices "in order to maintain its price advantage of up to 38%" versus the larger rival.

Aldi made price cuts across a range of its core lines including fresh meat, fresh fruit and vegetables and other household staples.

The German-owned group has also launched a nationwide advertising campaign "to ensure shoppers understand it remains by far the lowest-priced supermarket in the UK".

It said in the 12 weeks to 3 January, the average item at Aldi was 29% cheaper compared with the average at eight competitors, an even wider gap than a year earlier.

"Our competitors continue to claim that they are closing the price gap. We think it is important to make it clear to shoppers that any challenge to our price leadership position will not succeed," said chief executive Matthew Barnes.

"Aldi remains Britain's lowest-priced supermarket by a significant margin and that is a position we will retain next month, next year and forever.

"While other retailers talk up price cuts and infuriate shoppers with misleading price-match schemes, we keep it simple with a consistent promise: whenever you visit Aldi, you're paying the lowest prices in Britain."