Morrisons increases first half profit
Morrisons has increased its pre-tax profit before exceptional items by 5.3% to £198 million in its first half.
Group like-for-like sales excluding fuel edged up 0.2% in the six months to 4 August but fell by 1.9% in the retailer’s second quarter. Retail’s contribution to like-for-likes sales in the six month period was down 1.1%.
Meanwhile, total revenue was up 0.4% to £8.83 billion in the half year.
Morrisons said its retail sales were impacted by a competitive and challenging market due to weak consumer confidence and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
David Potts, Morrisons chief executive, added: “We stayed focused on our Fix, Rebuild and Grow strategy, and were pleased to maintain the momentum of the turnaround against strong comparatives last year. Sales and profit progress was robust, and we again invested in improving our competitiveness for customers.”
The supermarket has also announced an extension of its partnership with Amazon on a same-day grocery delivery service. The retailers have signed an agreement to partner together over a number of years rather than on a rolling basis. They will also be exploring new opportunities to innovate and improve the shopping experience for customers.
The service is currently available to Amazon Prime Now customers in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and parts of London and the Home Counties. It will be extended to Glasgow, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield and Portsmouth throughout the rest of 2019.
