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| Morrisons' profits hurt by supermarket price war | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| WM Morrison has reported a fall in half year profits of just over 30% as it continues to suffer from the effects of the continuing supermarket price wars. | WM Morrison has reported a fall in half year profits of just over 30% as it continues to suffer from the effects of the continuing supermarket price wars. |
| It said pre-tax profits for the six months to 3 August fell to £239m from £344m a year earlier. | It said pre-tax profits for the six months to 3 August fell to £239m from £344m a year earlier. |
| Morrisons is one of the "Big Four" supermarkets squeezed between the higher end of the market and discount supermarkets, including Aldi and Lidl. | |
| Like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 7.4% from a 1.6% fall a year earlier. | |
| Sir Ian Gibson, non-executive chairman at Morrisons admitted trading conditions were tough adding the whole industry was experiencing "unprecedented change". | |
| "Our first-half results reflect the reset of the business we announced in March. Morrisons is now well underway with building the foundations for a better future. The board is confident of the new strategy and Morrisons financial position remains strong," Sir Ian said. | |
| Morrisons has embarked on a three-year £1bn investment programme to cut prices and plans to open 200 discount stores, following in the footsteps of other leading supermarkets. | |
| The supermarket said it expected online shopping and convenience stores to drive overall market growth over the coming years. | |
| Online shopping, which Morrisons only launched earlier this year, contributed 0.4% to overall sales in the six months to 3 August. | |
| Disastrous | |
| Morrisons sales have suffered as it and the other Big Four supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda - have lost market share to discounters like Aldi and Lidl, and high-end grocers including Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. | |
| In April, Tesco reported a second fall in annual profits and has been forced to issue two profit warnings this year alone. In July the supermarket's chief executive, Philip Clarke, was forced to resign. | |
| In June, the Morrisons chief executive Dalton Philips was blasted by the grocer's founder Sir Ken Morrison at its annual shareholder meeting for delivering what Sir Ken called a "disastrous" set of results. | |
| Sir Ken also told Mr Philips that his three year plan for the chain was akin to the manure produced by his herd of cattle. | |
| Mr Philips said he was encouraged by the progress Morrisons had made but admitted there was an "enormous amount of change" still to come. | |
| "Although it is too early to see the benefits of the three-year plan in the sales line, Morrisons is getting back on the front foot, and implementing change and innovation at real pace throughout the business," Mr Philips added. |