Morrisons results

Morrisons preliminary results for the year ended 31 January 2010 have highlighted the following:

Turnover up 6% to £15.4bn (2008/09: £14.5bn)
Like-for-like sales (ex fuel, ex VAT) up 6.0% (2008/09: 8.2%)
Profit before tax £858m (2008/09 £655m)

Commenting on the results, Sir Ian Gibson, Non-Executive Chairman, said: "Morrisons had another good year.  Once again our focus on fresh food and great value appealed to shoppers everywhere, and we have successfully grown sales and profits to record levels.

"We expect the economic environment to remain challenging, disposable incomes to be under pressure and value to remain a high priority for consumers.  The Board believes that Morrisons unique offer of high quality, fresh food at great value prices will continue to attract customers from our competitors and drive market share growth in the year ahead.  For the longer term, we will continue to utilise our balance sheet strength to invest for growth, with new space, new manufacturing capability and new systems priorities in the year ahead."