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

Little cheer for Morrisons as Tesco slows sales slump

http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/75466/little-cheer-for-morrisons-as-tesco-slows-sales-slump-75466.html

Trading statement 08 Jan 15 Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets PLC [MRW]

why not sell halal meat?

Interesting to see how their price match with Aldi and the likes is going. Interesting to see how this will be maintained. :-)) Could just become a very costly exercise for Morrisons.

Morrissons in the firing line: Dramatic slump in Christmas sales to heap further pressure on grocer's boss Dalton Philips




http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2903965/Morrissons-firing-line-Dramatic-slump-Christmas-sales-heap-pressure-grocer-s-boss-Dalton-Philips.html

Morrisons set for revival despite a lean Christmas

SUPERMARKET giant Morrisons is expected to report lacklustre Christmas trading figures this week.


The big four supermarkets are being threatened by discount giants Lidl and Aldi

http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/551283/Morrisons-revival-despite-lean-Christmas

Lidl has Christmas cracker with year-on-year sales rising by more than 20 per cent

LIDL has notched up its most successful Christmas on record, with year-on-year sales rising by more than 20 per cent.


http://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/550106/Lidl-s-Christmas-sales-best-on-record-with-year-on-year-sales-rising

Christmas Trading Statement

Improving performance in a very competitive market

Morrisons sales trends improved over the Christmas period as we continued to make progress in all components of the trading strategy we laid out last March. Like-for-like (LFL) sales improved on recent quarters. We grew volume market share in Food* through better pricing and execution, which has helped us deliver further improvements in our operational KPIs.

In the six weeks to 4 January, total sales** excluding fuel were down by 1.3% and LFL sales**excluding fuel down were down 3.1%. After passing on the benefit of lower oil prices to our customers, total sales including fuel were down 3.6% and LFL sales including fuel were down 5.2%. Online contributed 1.0% to LFL during the period.

On operational KPIs, Items per Basket improved from -2.4% year-on-year in Q3 to -0.2%, and Number of Transactions from -3.3% to -1.7%. Black Friday impacted the start of the reporting period, but we were encouraged that LFL and volume performance was stronger in the last four weeks, the key trading weeks for Food.

It was the first Christmas for Match & More, online and many M locals:

· Match & More launched well, sign-up is ahead of our expectations, and customer feedback has been excellent;

· Our online business achieved industry-leading customer service metrics. Even during the busy pre-Christmas week, on time delivery was 97.5% and product substitutions were just 1.4%. Last weekend, we delivered our one millionth order on our first anniversary of launch;

· We served almost double the number of customers in our growing convenience store business this year, and a total of 5 million during the six weeks.

We have opened 17 M local stores so far during the fourth quarter, bringing the total to 46 new stores year-to-date.

In addition to this operational progress, we remain committed to rigorous and optimal capital discipline. We continually review the performance of all stores. Today we are announcing the proposed closure of 10 loss making stores during 2015.

Morrisons financial position remains strong. For 2014/15, we expect property disposal proceeds of £400m-£500m and year-end net debt of £2.3bn-£2.4bn, in line with guidance.


Chief Executive Officer, Dalton Philips, said:

"I would like to thank colleagues for delivering a stronger Christmas proposition for our customers. Our like-for-like sales were a step-up on recent quarters and trends in the key operational measures continued to improve. Our three-year cost saving and cash flow targets remain on track. Although there is still much to do, we are building the platform to enable us to compete better in an industry that we expect to be highly competitive in the year ahead."

Outlook

We continue to expect 2014/15 underlying profit before tax to be in the range £335m-£365m, after £65m of new business development costs and £70m of one-off costs.

* Nielsen five weeks to 28th December
** For supermarkets, online and convenience stores, reported exc. VAT and in accordance with IFRIC 13.

more...

Board Changes

The motley fool -


By G A Chester - Monday, 19 January, 2015



The new year is barely underway, but directors at WM Morrison Supermarkets (LSE: MRW) (NASDAQOTH: MRWSY.US), Boohoo.Com (LSE: BOO) and Utilitywise (LSE: UTW) have already waded into the market to buy shares in their own companies.

At what price did these directors splash the cash, and how much did they invest? Read on!

Morrisons

Andrew Higginson — a former Tesco finance chief and head of retailing services in the Terry Leahy golden era — joined Morrisons last October as Chairman-elect. And he has wasted no time in shaking up the UK’s fourth-largest supermarket.

Alongside Morrison’s recent Christmas trading update, the Board announced the sacking of chief executive Dalton Philips, with Higginson commenting that the company’s development “is best done under new leadership”.

On the same day, Higginson splashed out a cool half-million quid on a maiden purchase of shares, paying a bit over 186p a time. Clearly, the former Tesco man sees value in Morrisons, and it’s perhaps not stretching the imagination too much to think he may have some inkling of who the company’s new CEO might be.

If you want to follow Higginson’s lead, you’ll have to pay a little more for your shares now: they’re 193p, at the time of writing.

you could of course buy into the food retailers index .... and no i haven't

Gone long friday.

The chart looks spiffing.

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