Longer opening hours help Morrisons beat expectations

8th Sep 2011 07:10

Supermarket chain Morrisons' focus on value - and longer opening hours - helped it post sales and profits ahead of expectations in the half year to 31 July.Pre-tax profits rose to £449m from £412m the previous year. Turnover climbed to £8.7bn from £8.1bn, while like-for-like sales rose by 2.2%.Analysts at Panmure Gordon had predicted profits of about £440m and like-for-like sales growth of 1.9%, while Nomura had predicted like-for-like sales growth of 2%."In a tough economy shoppers are looking for unbeatable value on fresh food, great deals on national brands and the best prices at the petrol pump," said chief executive Dalton Philips. "Our 'Price Crunch' campaign has delivered these for our customers throughout the period."Morrisons said the rise in like-for-like sales was due in part to an extension of hours in many stores from May."During the first half the trading environment has, as expected, been challenging and we anticipate it to continue to be so for some time to come," Morrisons said. "Despite this, our performance to date, our growing customer base and our ongoing focus on tight cost control throughout the business, give the board confidence that we will deliver our expectations for the year."---RG