The City expects Morrisons to deliver interim pre-tax profits up from £266.3 million last year to about £294 million when it reports next week, according to consensus estimates.

Blue Oar Securities expects a pre-tax profit, excluding property, of£299 million and sales growth of 7.6 per cent. Analyst Greg Lawless said the numbers should be solid, rather than spectacular.

Margins will be depressed by high petrol inflation, said Citi, and while the grocer has delivered dramatic margin increases, the City will now want to scrutinise them more closely.

Analyst James Anstead said: “Now the first stages of recovery are complete and the margin improvement is measured in tens rather than hundreds of basis points, the market will likely want to understand the precise movements better.”

Morrisons faces tougher comparatives following its strong growth in the second half of 2007. Bernstein analyst Christopher Hogbin said the grocer’s recent industry outperformance is expected “to fade since Morrisons has only two more months of easier compares before annualising its stronger sales growth”.

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