Morrisons posts drop in full year profit
Morrisons has posted a drop in full year pre-tax profit although its EBITDA came in at the top end of guidance given in its third quarter.
In the year to 30 October, adjusted EDBITDA was down 15% to £828 million, but grew by 26% in the supermarket’s fourth quarter.
Morrisons increased its total sales by 2.2% to £18.4 billion in the year although like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell by 4.2%.
However, like-for-like sales were up 2.6% on pre-pandemic levels three years ago and up 2.5% in three weeks before Christmas.
David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, said: “In a very difficult period for consumers and businesses alike, we are continuing to do everything we can to keep prices down for customers and to support our colleagues.
“As a vertically integrated retailer, we felt the impacts of last year’s racing inflation more immediately than our competitors and this did have an impact on our pricing position. However, since October we have executed a rolling programme of meaningful price cuts, price freezes and fuel promotions for our customers and our competitive position has considerably sharpened.
“Our Christmas trading continued the positive momentum of the last two quarters with a 2.5% increase in sales against last year, as we pulled out all the stops to help our customers celebrate with style and great quality, despite the economic uncertainty.”
Morrisons is expecting cost and other inflationary headwinds to continue in the current financial year, but said it is confident that these will be offset by improved trading momentum and its various cost saving programmes.
Potts said: “Looking ahead, this current year has many opportunities. We have clear plans in place to continue to invest in price and in hours in our stores; to open new supermarkets and further refresh the core estate; to invest in McColl’s and accelerate the conversion programme; to develop further the fast-growing My Morrisons app and to grow volumes through our unique food making operations around the country.
“Together I’m confident that these moves will enable us to make further significant progress in developing Morrisons into a broader, stronger, more accessible and more popular business.”
