Morrisons, the UK's fourth-largest retailer by market share, has announced its interim results for the first half of the year, recording lower like-for-like sales and profit before tax.
For the six month period, ended 29 July, like-for-like sales fell 0.9 per cent, while profit before tax dropped from £449m (€568m) in the first half of 2011/12 to £440m (€556m).
Group turnover improved by 2.3 per cent to £8.7bn, while the group's net debt increased from £1.05bn to £1.68bn after equity retirement of £628m.
'With ongoing commodity inflation continuing to weigh on already fragile consumer confidence and market conditions becoming ever more challenging, we have had to work even harder for our customers during the first half,' said Sir Ian Gibson, non-executive chairman at Morrisons. 'Against this backdrop, Morrisons has increased sales and underlying earnings and delivered good dividend growth.'
Dalton Phillips, group CEO, said that although pressure on consumer spending was reflected in lower sales, the group had made progress in its strategic objectives.
'By the end of the year our new Fresh Formats will be in over 100 stores and we are now ready to launch our convenience stores in London supported by our new distribution centre,' he noted. 'We have also extended our food production capabilities and will launch wine as our first online category. We expect to make further progress in the second half of the year.'
In its outlook report, Morrisons said that it expected the challenging economic environment and consumer pressures to continue through the second half of this year and into 2013.
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