From the mighty to the mighty awful. One day business schools will conduct management courses based on the decline of supermarkets operator Wm Morrison (MRW). In the past five years, the Bradford-based company has gone from being the strongest of the listed food retailers to being the weakest. And while it piles on the debt to get out of a fix of its own making, shareholders should pile out of its shares.
- Scope to expand through convenience stores
- Has escaped 'horsegate' scandal
- Capital spending and borrowings set to rise further
- Online shopping won't launch until 2014
- Ocado looks an odd partner
- New store format not attracting customers
Its full-year results for 2012-13 make horrible reading. Same-store sales fell 2.1 per cent in 2012-13, translating into a 7 per cent fall in pre-tax profits. These unsavoury figures suggest that the grocer has not been able to tempt shoppers through the door, despite soft comparisons and the huge amounts of money - and time - Morrison has spent sprucing up its stores into so-called 'fresh formats', improving the products and developing convenience and multi-channel propositions.