Grocery Guru Episode #28: Morrison's Q1 Trading Statement and Their Wholesale Performance

Join Andrew Grant and Darren A. Smith in the twenty-eighth episode about Morrisons Q1 trading statement for 2021 (14 weeks to 9 May 2021) - 'On track for strong future profit growth and low debt'. Their partnership with Amazon, predicting the new working patterns, and strong wholesale performance.

You Can Read the Full Morrisons Q1 Trading Statement Episode Transcript Below:

Darren A. Smith:

Welcome to the Grocery Guru. This is episode 28 and we are here with your grocery guru, Andrew Grant. Andrew, how are you doing?

Andrew Grant:

Morning, Darren. Yes, very well. Thank you.

Darren A. Smith:

Good. You're sporting a hoodie today.

Andrew Grant:

Yeah, it's still early in the morning.

Darren A. Smith:

Fair enough. All right, let's talk about Morrison's quarterly statement. I think is what's in our postbag today.

Andrew Grant:

Well, that was the news that sort of sparked some thoughts, I guess. Morrison's 12 week trading statement came out, I think Tuesday. Always really, really useful because, we've talked about the annual results of all of the big four. The only problem with those are they're up to a year out of date, whereas this is only 12 weeks out of date. So it's a real snapshot of what's happening out there. I think I've said it before, I'm really glad I am not facing some of the conundrums these supermarkets are facing, because what struck out to me, it's a good performance, they're now lapping the start of the pandemic.

Morrison's Q1 Trading Statement and Their Wholesale Performance

 

Darren A. Smith:

Yeah.

Andrew Grant:

So they're lapping all that bulk buying of toilet rolls and water and all the panic buying. They're like for like.

Andrew Grant:

Yeah. Their like for like's down to 1.6%. Down from a peak of 11.1. But the good news for them is on a two year basis, their like for likes are up 8.7. Now a lot of that's driven by their wholesale business, which is growing like Topsy. But what stood out for me, is they put a couple of graphs into the trading statement. Their fuel volumes are back to pre-pandemic levels.

Darren A. Smith:

Okay.

Andrew Grant:

Their three pound meal deal, their food to go offering, is ahead of pre-pandemic levels. We read all this stuff about, the new normal is working from home, town centers are going to be dead, but on the face of it, these figures... And just anecdotally, when you go on the roads at the moment, the rush hour is back.

Darren A. Smith:

Yeah.

Andrew Grant:

The M-25 is gridlock at 4:30 every day. So, is everybody back at work or the flip? And you probably noticed it, Pret a Manger opening sandwich shops in Tesco supermarkets, because their high street business has been destroyed. Who was right?

Darren A. Smith:

It's a real tough one. There might be a third scenario in this, which is we all go back to work type thing to normal for a couple of months because we're desperate to get to see people, engage, and go back to where we work to feel like normal people. Then we decided actually that thing, that home wasn't so bad and we do this for a bit until we figure out, we need to balance that maybe is somewhere here in the middle.

Andrew Grant:

Or you become a twat.

Darren A. Smith:

Go on, tell us what the twat is.

Andrew Grant:

It's nothing personal, Darren. It is a proper scientific term. It is not a swear word. A twat is somebody who works in the office Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

Darren A. Smith:

Okay.

Andrew Grant:

I think this is what the new normal will be. They say there's a million, again, another piece of news this week, they surveyed the UK's 50 largest employers. Over a million workers will be allowed to work in a hybrid home or office scenario. I think some of the banks have already said it, some of the big investment houses in London. When you look at what's happening with home purchases, Devon and Cornwall, the cop was just manic,