Wm Morrison Supermarkets Posts Fall in Third-Quarter Sales

By Jana Simmons

LONDON--Wm. Morrison Supermarkets PLC (MRW.LN), the U.K.'s fourth-biggest supermarket chain, on Thursday reported a 3.6% drop in total sales for the third quarter and reiterated its full-year profit outlook.

Like-for-like sales were down 6.3%, or 8.0% including fuel, in the 13 weeks to Nov. 2 and online contributed 0.7% to like for like sales during the period. Items per basket dropped 2.4% year-on-year and net debt was GBP2.6 billion.

The company also narrowed its full year underlying profit before tax guidance range to 335 million pounds ($535.3 million) to GBP365 million, compared with the previously range of GBP325 million to GBP375 million.

Morrisons recently launched a new price match and points card in a move to tempt customers back from its budget rivals and said the card is proving popular with customers.

The retailer's 'Match & More' card provides a price match guarantee against Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, as well as German discounters Aldi and Lidl.

The U.K.'s "big four" supermarket chains--Tesco Corp. (TESO), Asda, part of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) and Morrisons--have been scrambling to retain their market share following the recent success of their German rivals. Tesco and Asda have their own price-match schemes, but don't match against Aldi and Lidl.

Shares closed Wednesday at 162.4 pence.

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