Morrisons hit by Safeway takeover costs
Supermarket chain Morrisons racked up half-year losses of £73.7m (€108.5m) today as it revealed the impact of its continuing woes integrating UK rival Safeway.
The figure for the 25 weeks to July 24 compared with profits of £121.6m (€179.1m) for the same period last year and followed a string of profits warnings over the last year.
It came as the group revealed a further decline in trading at its core estate of Morrisons stores, with like-for-like sales for the last 12 weeks down 0.6%, or 5.2% excluding fuel.
The company also announced it was replacing non-executive director David Jones as chairman of its audit and remuneration committees.
Mr Jones, who announced yesterday he was retiring as deputy chairman of Next, was appointed to the Morrisons board last spring following the supermarket’s £3bn (€4.4bn) takeover of Safeway.
For the full year, Morrisons believed it would now hit the lower end of its previous forecast range for profits before tax, exceptionals and goodwill of between £50m (€73.6m) and £150m (€221m) – well below the equivalent £320 million figure posted last year.
The firm has been struggling since it took over Safeway, and conceded in May that costs associated with integrating the two businesses were likely to remain higher and take longer to eliminate than hoped.
