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(Alliance News) - WM Morrison Supermarkets said Tuesday its like-for-like sales surged over the festive period, helped by a "renewed focus on traditional Christmas fare" and despite the UK being under Covid-19 restrictions.
Grocer Morrisons said like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, over Christmas and the New Year were 9.3% higher annually.
"All customer and brand metrics have improved, market share has grown, and our online and wholesale channels are growing very rapidly as we develop as a multi-channel business," the company said.
And for the 22 weeks to January 3, part of the second half of its financial year, like-for-like sales, also excluding fuel, were 8.1% higher. Including fuel, like-for-likes were 1.9% higher during the period, the grocer noted that fuel sales were down 23%, hit by new virus restrictions on movement.
"Shopping patterns and customer behaviour were different this year as the COVID-19 restrictions made larger gatherings of family and friends more difficult. In the lead-up to Christmas we saw more customers shopping earlier than in previous years and a renewed focus on traditional Christmas fare. Champagne sales were up 64% compared to last year, whole salmon up 40% and Free From mince pies up 14%," Morrisons added.
Morrisons and its supermarket peers were further in focus Tuesday as research firm Kantar released its latest UK grocery market share figures for the 12 weeks ended December 27.
Kantar said December was the busiest month ever for UK supermarkets, with take home grocery sales up 11% in the 12 week period.
Morrisons was down 1.1% early Tuesday.
Here is what you need to know at the London market open:
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MARKETS
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FTSE 100: down 0.1% at 6,563.95
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Hang Seng: up 0.3% at 27,558.07
Nikkei 225: closed down 0.4% at 27,158.63
DJIA: closed down 382.59 points, or 1.3%, at 30,223.89
S&P 500: closed down 55.42 points, or 1.5%, at 3,700.65
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GBP: firm at USD1.3593 (USD1.3587)
EUR: soft at USD1.2264 (USD1.2275)
Gold: firm at USD1,942.54 per ounce (USD1,940.70)
Oil (Brent): down at USD50.90 a barrel (USD51.04)
(changes since previous London equities close)
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ECONOMICS AND GENERAL
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Tuesday's Key Economic Events still to come
US Senate runoff elections in Georgia
0955 CET Germany unemployment
1000 CET EU monetary developments in euro area
0855 EST US Johnson Redbook retail sales index
0945 EST US ISM-NY report on business
1000 EST US ISM report on business manufacturing PMI
1630 EST US API weekly statistical bulletin
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Almost 14 million people in the UK could be in line for a Covid vaccine by the middle of February, in line with plans announced by the prime minister. In a TV address announcing the third national lockdown for England, Boris Johnson said officials were hoping for all people in the top four priority groups to have been offered a jab in the coming weeks. Tweeting afterwards, vaccine minister Nadhim Zahawi said the NHS "family will come together" to get 13.9 million doses prepared for the most vulnerable by the middle of next month. A source told the PA news agency that those near the top of the list will be contacted by mid-February, but the final figure could be lower – closer to 13 million – because of some crossover between groups, such as those over 80 who live in care homes.
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German unemployment figures for December are expected to show a rise when the Federal Employment Agency presents its monthly report on Tuesday. An anticipated moderate increase in the figure is being attributed partly to seasonal effects, as German unemployment tends to rise in the last month of the year. In November, 2.699 million people were jobless. The December figures will not show the effects of the near-total lockdown currently in place to stem the spread of the coronavirus, as the data was only collected up to December 10. The harsher lockdown measures were imposed on December 16.
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Gulf leaders are to meet on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia for their annual summit, amid a breakthrough in the years-long Gulf dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar. In 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and non-Gulf Egypt severed diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting militant groups, an accusation that Doha denies. Kuwait and the US have since been trying to mediate a solution to the crisis. The row has been one of the most serious experienced by the Gulf Cooperation Council since it was created in 1981. The US-allied bloc comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the UAE. Hours before the meeting, Kuwait announced on Monday that Saudi Arabia had agreed to open air, sea and land borders with Qatar, in a promising step towards ending the crisis.
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BROKER RATING CHANGES
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MORGAN STANLEY CUTS BRITISH LAND TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT')
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MORGAN STANLEY CUTS LAND SECURITIES TO 'UNDERWEIGHT' ('EQUAL-WEIGHT')
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MORGAN STANLEY CUTS GREAT PORTLAND TO 'EQUAL-WEIGHT' ('OVERWEIGHT')
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BERENBERG RAISES ROYAL MAIL TO 'HOLD' ('SELL') - TARGET 280 (137) PENCE
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JEFFERIES RAISES SPIRE HEALTHCARE TO 'HOLD' (UNDERPERFORM) - TARGET 159 (78) PENCE
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COMPANIES - FTSE 100
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Clothing and homewares retailer Next expects pretax profit for its financial year ending January of GBP370 million, which would be down 38% from GBP593.9 million. The GBP370 million forecast is a notch higher than its GBP365 million guidance issued back in October, which itself was bumped up from its GBP300 million guidance issued a month earlier. "After accounting for the benefit of better sales in November and December and anticipated losses from store closures in January, full year profit before tax is forecast to be GBP370 million before two additional non-recurring items," Next said. "For the year ahead (2021/22) our central guidance, which assumes our retail stores will be closed in February and March, is for profit before tax of GBP670 million, based on full price sales being flat versus two years ago." Next said it upside scenario for the 2022 financial year is pretax profit of GBP735 million, with its downside forecasting profit of GBP600 million. Promisingly for Next, full price sales in the nine weeks to December 26 were down just 1.1% from the prior year, measuring up favourably to the retailer's central guidance of an 8% decline.
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Mexico has approved the Oxford University and AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine for emergency use, hoping to spur a halting vaccination effort that has only given about 44,000 jabs since the third week of December, about 82% of the doses the country has received. The Pfizer vaccine had been the only one approved for use in Mexico, until Mexican regulators approved the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday. Foreign relations secretary Marcelo Ebrard wrote on Twitter that "the emergency approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine is very good news…with this, production will begin very soon in Mexico!" A Mexican firm has arranged to do part of the finishing and packaging of the vaccine.
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COMPANIES - FTSE 250
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Plus500 said it expects to report revenue on USD872 million in its year ended December, more than double the USD354.4 million in 2019. It was a "record performance", the company noted, and was ahead of board expectations. "The company's strong performance during FY 2020 demonstrates once again its exceptional ability to respond to news events and volatile financial markets while maintaining a sophisticated, efficient and responsible business model. This performance, driven by record platform usage, was achieved despite the unprecedented and uncertain market conditions experienced throughout the year," Plus500 explained. The company added that its co-founder and former chief executive Gal Haber will step down as managing director with immediate effect. Plus500 has kicked off a process to find Haber's replacement.
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COMPANIES - MAIN MARKET AND AIM
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Irish budget carrier Ryanair said it carried just 1.9 million passengers in December, down 83% from 11.2 million a year before, amid travel restrictions. It said it operated 22% of its normal December schedule with a 73% load factor.
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COMPANIES - GLOBAL
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The New York Stock Exchange abandoned plans to delist three state-owned Chinese telecom companies on Monday, reversing a decision that further dented already strained relations between the world's two superpowers. In a brief statement, the stock exchange said it "no longer intends to move forward with the delisting action" for China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom. No detailed reason was given for the sudden reversal but the exchange said it came after "further consultation with relevant regulatory authorities". Shares in the three state-owned telecoms firms jumped on the news in Hong Kong trading on Tuesday.
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Tuesday's Shareholder Meetings
Edenville Energy PLC - AGM
TUI AG - EGM
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By Tom Waite; thomaslwaite@alliancenews.com
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