Morrison (wm) Supermarkets Share Discussion Threads

[maxp4] 17/3/2020 19:44

MORRISONS has set out a number of measures to support colleagues and customers during the Coronavirus outbreak.

As a British family business, Morrisons says it will do its bit during the emergency and will protect and help colleagues and expand home delivery to many more households at a time of national need. In doing so, Morrisons will create an extra 3,500 jobs.

These measures follow on from Morrisons' announcement last week that it would be implementing immediate payments for its smaller suppliers, supporting their cashflow during this very difficult time for the British economy.

The key elements of the plan are:

● Colleague hardship fund - to support colleagues who are in financial difficulty as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak we will create a colleague hardship fund. Colleagues will be able to apply for funds if they experience a financial setback and are struggling to make ends meet.

● Helping colleagues - Morrisons colleagues are very highly valued and the company is introducing the following measures if they are affected:

○ Those who are sick with the Coronavirus will receive sick pay whether or not they would normally be eligible.

○ Colleagues who are affected either because of self isolation, or by playing their part in looking after close family members or the vulnerable in their local community, will also be eligible for sick pay, alternative shifts or holiday.

● Protecting colleagues - Morrisons will protect highly valued colleagues by:

○ Asking customers at the checkout to pay, if possible, by card or smartphone to reduce cash handling.

○ Issuing hand sanitiser to checkouts at all stores and significantly increasing cleaning on places that colleagues and customers touch.

○ Redeploying colleagues who are vulnerable to the virus, where possible.

● Expanding home delivery - Morrisons is to introduce new ways of delivering groceries and more slots for customers, which will also help vulnerable people and those affected by the virus. New measures include:

○ Launching a new range of simple-to-order food parcels, including options for vegetarians, from March 23.

○ Making more delivery slots available to customers both through Morrisons.com and the Morrisons Store on Amazon Prime Now. Morrisons will use 100 further stores to pick customers’ shopping over the coming weeks.

○ Launching a customer call centre for orders to be taken over the phone so that people who do not shop online can still order food.

○ To support the roll-out of these expanded home delivery methods, Morrisons will be recruiting around 2,500 pickers and drivers.

● New Jobs - The outbreak of coronavirus will affect businesses across the UK and Morrisons will be offering jobs to people that are impacted. In addition to around 2,500 pickers and drivers to expand home delivery, Morrisons will be recruiting around 1,000 people to work in the company’s distribution centres. The vacancies will be advertised through a campaign on radio and social media and the Morrisons jobs website morrisons.jobs.

David Potts, Chief Executive of Morrisons, said: “We expect the days, weeks and months ahead to be very testing and we are determined to do our bit. These measures will support our very hard-working colleagues, enable us to provide more food to more people in their homes and create opportunities for people whose jobs are affected by the coronavirus.”

[albert3591] 17/3/2020 19:34

Spoke to Morrison’s employee today,he said Morrison’s will only pay ssp if staff self isolate.I don’t think I will use Morrison’s in that case.Maybe some staff may go to work when they are sick,I don’t want them serving me when they should be at home.

[scotches] 17/3/2020 08:18

Morrisons has defensive merits in tough times, says Jefferies

Jefferies is taking note of the ‘defensive merits’ of Morrisons (MRW) as coronavirus takes hold of the UK.

Analyst James Grzinic reiterated his ‘buy’ recommendation and target price of 245p on the shares, which fell 4% to 164.2p yesterday.

‘We have recently noted the defensive merits of Morrisons ahead of the 18 March finals,’ he said.

These merits include distributions of around 35p in the past three years, ‘considerable self-help, with much potential left in the future allowing Morrison to defend margins in the face of top-line challenges, and limited exposure to non-food and therefore a fall in UK discretionary spending.

‘It is true that a more limited food online reach is a disadvantage relative to peers but we believe amply offset by overall free cashflow visibility and remarkable balance sheet strength,’ said Grzinic.

[nerdlinger] 13/3/2020 16:56

David Potts, chief executive of Morrisons, said in a statement: "We are Britain's biggest single foodmaker...

This has been said before, maybe it's a bit tenuous with runners-up always potentially able to take over top spot but I like hearing it.

[deduce101] 13/3/2020 12:26

Coronavirus: Morrisons to pay small suppliers immediately

[cwa1] 10/3/2020 15:33

Well that LOOKS a wrong 'un :-)

[kamitora] 07/3/2020 15:17

"We have invoked a full technology change freeze starting today, due to the business impact of the coronavirus news (increased volume of sales)," the message from management stated.

One person familiar with the matter claimed the "throughput of goods is in excess of the usual Christmas peak". Pallet deliveries have doubled in some cases, they added.

Morrisons puts non-essential tech changes on ice as panic-stricken shoppers strip stores

[albert3591] 05/3/2020 18:13

Morrison’s are on a downward spiral,some time soon a bid will be made for them.Then lower %age profit stores will be hived off.

[cassini] 04/3/2020 19:04

My Morrison's was sold out of strong white bread-making flour/yeast/part-baked bread rolls. This was late in the day mind. Am waiting for the UHT milk to disappear too ;0)

[cassini] 04/3/2020 00:21

My local Morrison's today has a sign at the entrance saying they are hiring. Never seen that before...and I didn't see it last night when I was there.

[albert3591] 03/3/2020 12:59

I’m hearing staff who found out Monday they were losing their jobs walked out and haven’t come back,getting interesting.have they pushed them to far this time?

[loganair] 03/3/2020 11:14

Sainsbury's was the only one of Britain's "big four" supermarkets to record year-on-year sales growth in the 12 weeks to Feb. 23, although it still lost market share to discounters Aldi and Lidl, according to researchers Kantar.

Sales at Sainsbury's rose 0.3%, Kantar said on Tuesday, whereas market leader Tesco recorded a dip of 0.8%, Asda was down 1.2% and Morrisons fell 2.0%.

Lidl was the fastest growing supermarket for the first time since 2017, with sales up 11.4% in the period, taking its market share to 5.8%, Kantar said. Its bigger rival Aldi recorded growth of 5.7%, giving it a 7.9% market share.

The impact of the coronavirus crisis has been seen at the tills, with sales of hand sanitiser up 255% in February while liquid soaps grew by 7%, Kantar said.

[albert3591] 02/3/2020 11:32

The times 01/03/20..sorry

[albert3591] 02/3/2020 11:31

The times 01/02/20

[albert3591] 02/3/2020 11:29

Morrison’s heading for ftse100 delisting

[albert3591] 27/2/2020 15:06

I bet mrw would like someone to buy them,how about amazon

[loganair] 27/2/2020 10:14

Walmart is in talks with private equity firms about selling a majority stake in Asda. The US retail giant confirmed the talks in a statement, although it also said that “an IPO is an attractive long-term objective for Asda”. With Asda valued at around £5bn on a standalone basis, a full takeover would probably require a consortium, with a stake sale to a private equity house seen as a stepping stone to a flotation in a few years time. KKR is one name in the frame.


The original £7.3bln that Walmart valued Asda at at the time of the take over bid by Sainsburys would now value Asda approximately the same as Sainsbury's and M&S combines which is just a ridiculously high valuation.

What I see happening is the following:

1. Private Equity firm takes majority stake in Asda.

2. Private Equity firm asset strips Asda and loads Asda with a huge amount of debt paying a huge dividend to both the Private Equity Firm and Walmart.

3. Private Equity firm lists an over valued Asda carrying a huge amount of debt - shares being bought by the Private Retail Investor because they think they are buying a safe company - This is what happened with Woolworths and Debenhams etc.

4. In the end Walmart get the £7.3bln they wanted for Asda and the Private Equity Firm also makes a huge amount of money, doubling there original investment with in a few very short years.

[nerdlinger] 26/2/2020 16:37

and from McColl's prelims this morning: "This year we completed 23 store refreshes in the year, including ten stores as part of a trial of the Morrisons Daily fascia. This trial is helping us with range development and is also an opportunity to explore the potential for this type of format. Sales are strong, the response from customers has been positive, and we are expanding into an additional 20 stores to further evaluate."

- so the Southport one is one of these 30 trial shops. Looks good though, I didn't inspect it that closely but I was looking for and couldn't see any sign of it still being a McColls, it looked like a tiny Morries.

[albert3591] 26/2/2020 08:05

I spoke with a manager who has had to reapply for the 4th time for his job in 8yrs,he has had enough he is off.When they lose these good experienced staff they will not come back to mrw,and do you think they will give a good picture of mrw for anyone who asks about the company.I think they have pushed them to hard this time,but we will see.

[cliff edge] 25/2/2020 12:54

The news release on the 7th January by Morrisons actually said "Sales at the first ten conversions from Mc Colls to Morrisons daily convenience stores are strong, and together we plan to extend the trial to another c.20 stores during January and February to further tailor and test the proposition as we begin to transition Mc Colls remaining ex co op stores to Morrisons wholesale supply" Given that Morrisons have already supplied c.1300 Mc Colls stores throughout the past two years with their revived Safeway brand, and that these first 20 ex co op stores have been "rolled out"
directly as Morrisons Daily, I am assuming that the remaining 200 plus ex co op stores will be also as their supply contract with Nisa comes to an end. Mc Colls update due tomorrow 26th February.

[loganair] 24/2/2020 20:03

It was announced in January that 20 of the ex Co-ops McColl's have will be changed to Morrison's Daily between February and March bringing the total to 30.