UK supermarket operator Wm Morrison has posted strong sales and profits growth, which may improve its position in the battle for Safeway.
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Morrisons posted pre-tax profits of £126.2m (US$203.7m) for the first half to 10 August, a rise of 10% year-on-year.
The Yorkshire-based company reported a 14.9% rise in first-half turnover to £2.5bn.
Joint managing director Bob Stott said in an interview with Reuters that strong sales rather than widening profit margins had helped boost profits.
Stott said the battle for UK rival Safeway had raised Morrisons’ profile and boosted sales.
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By GlobalDataThe company said sales growth in the first five weeks of the second half had been 9.6%, helped by the hot summer weather, which boosted sales of barbecue foods and salads.
Morrisons, the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket chain, kicked of the bidding battle for Safeway at the beginning of the year when it made an all-share offer which was then valued at £2.9bn. The company’s bid lapsed when it was referred to the UK’s competition authorities, along with potential bids from Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Wal-Mart’s Asda.
Stott said the company was not planning to join up with Asda to make a bid for Safeway.
“We are not in the business of potentially making somebody else’s bid successful. We are going down our own road,” Stott told Reuters.
