22nd Nov 2007 07:03
Morrison(Wm.)Supermarkets PLC22 November 2007 Interim Management Statement The Group has made an encouraging start to the second half of its financialyear, with improved sales momentum from like for like growth and new storeopenings. This is particularly pleasing as the prior year comparatives remainedstrong during this period. Commenting on the results, Marc Bolland, CEO, said: "Although we are still atan early stage in our three year Optimisation Plan, I am delighted with theprogress that has been made. We are on track to deliver our vision of being thefood specialist for everyone." Trading Having grown by 3.0% in the opening seven weeks of the half, like for like salesin the 14 weeks to 4th November 2007 were up by 3.7% excluding fuel (4.0%including fuel). During this period total sales increased by 4.6% (5.0%including fuel). In consequence, in the 39 weeks to 4th November 2007 like forlike sales were up by 3.1% excluding fuel (2.9% including fuel) and total salesincreased by 3.2% (3.3% including fuel). Optimisation Plan The implementation of the Optimisation Plan is progressing well. The roll out ofnew branding and revised Market Street presentation across the entire estate isnow under way and on track for completion by the end of July 2008. As indicatedat the interim stage, we have increased our marketing activity significantly insupport of these changes, and the campaign, particularly our new advertising,has been very well received by customers. We have further emphasised our strengths in the sourcing and provenance of food,supported by our vertical supply chain, by confirming that only fresh fish issold on our fish counters, and that all our fresh pork and lamb is British. Wehave continued to offer our customers great value despite the well publicisedpressures on commodity prices, and have implemented a further 7,500 pricereductions in the period. We expect the market to remain competitive and we remain cautious on the outlookfor consumer spending. However we are encouraged by our sales growth andbusiness performance in Quarter 3. Non-Trading Items During the Quarter we have benefited from a number of one-off income elements.The recovery of past overpayments of indirect taxes and the release of anonerous lease provision on property have contributed £20m and will appear inOperating Profit. Further gains on property disposals* of £14m have beenachieved, bringing the total for the year to date to £30m. Whilst total interest payable for the full year will be in line with ourexpectations, we now expect to generate higher than expected finance income fromthe performance of our pension schemes and from strong cash flow, which hasbenefited by £50m from property disposals in this quarter. As a consequence wenow expect total finance charges for the year as a whole to be broadly neutral. Future Reporting Cycle Following the implementation of the new regulations in relation to InterimManagement Statements, Morrisons will in future be providing sales updates on aquarterly basis. In addition it will provide a sales update on Christmas tradingwhich will be combined with a pre close outlook for the full year. Sales updates covering the period between a financial reporting date and thedate of an announcement will no longer be provided. Our future reporting timetable will therefore be: Period Announcement Date Subject Christmas Mid - January 6 week sales and pre-close updateFull year Mid - March Preliminary resultsQuarter 1 Early June IMS - sales and tradingHalf year Early August Pre close updateHalf year Mid - September Interim resultsQuarter 3 Early December IMS - sales and trading * Profits from property transactions are recorded within Operating Profit but shown separately on the Income Statement Further information Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC Investors: Niall Addison 07764 624 701 Media: Gillian Hall 0845 611 5359 Citigate Dewe Rogerson 020 7638 9571 Jonathan Clare Simon Rigby Sarah Gestetner Hannah Seward Ends This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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