Thursday preview: Morrison posts annual results

12th Mar 2014 14:00

Morrison Supermarkets will be in the spotlight on Thursday when the UK grocer is expected to report its lowest annual profit in five years. The company may report a pre-tax profit of £783m in the year to February 2nd 2014, down 13% on the £901m it made a year earlier, according to the consensus forecast. It would mark a second straight annual profit fall from Morrison, which trails market leader Tesco, Wal-Mart's Asda and J Sainsbury in annual sales.The supermarket could also detail plans to sell about 10% of its freehold property."A tough year has just drawn to an end, and our forecast for full year earnings before interest and tax of £785m assumes a 100 basis points second half margin decline on a like-for-like fall of around 3%, according to analyst at Jefferies International. The broker predicts closing net debt of £2.74bn, reflecting a peak year of investments. The total dividend per share is pegged at 13p."We expect the group to confirm that capital expenditure will drop sharply from here, as superstore expansion is reduced drastically (we model to £800m and £600m respectively in the next two years). "On the property review, we assume a potential for £500m of disposals, confirming a relatively small exit from a few non-core assets. This would represent just below 10% of the group's total equity."In January, Morrison's warned that full-year profit would be towards the end of the range of market forecasts, after Christmas sales declined more than expected by 5.6% in the six weeks to January 5th.In an effort to keep up with rivals Morrisons agreed in May to invest more than £200m in a 25-year deal with Ocado to make online shopping available to customers. The group also expanded its M local convenience stores with a target of 200 by the end of the year. Thursday March 13thINTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSBloomberg Consumer Confidence (US) (13:45)Business Inventories (US) (12:30)Continuing Claims (US) (12:30)ECB Report (EU) (09:00)Import and Export Price Indexes (US) (12:30)Initial Jobless Claims (US) (12:30)Manufacturing Inventories (US) (14:00)Retail Sales (US) (12:45)Retail Sales Inventories (US) (14:15)Interest rate decision (Korea)Interest rate decision (Indonesia)Interest rate decision (New Zealand)Retail sales (China)Industrial production (China)Core machinery orders (Japan)FINALSBwin.party Digital Entertainment, F&C Asset Management, Fairpoint Group, Independent News & Media, Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets, Nichols, Plaza Centers NV, Restore, Salamander Energy, SIG, TT Electronics, Costain, Trinity MirrorANNUAL REPORTBerendsenEGMSTelecom Egypt SAE GDS (Regs)AGMSBanco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA, Urals Energy Public Co Ltd. (DI)TRADING ANNOUNCEMENTSHome Retail GroupUK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTSRICS Housing Market Survey (09:30)RD