Morrison W. MRW has by modern retail and high street standards had a bumper Christmas with group like for like sales up by 2.8% or 3% including fuel. Sales over Christmas and New Year were particularly strong with group like for like sales over the 6 weeks to 7th January up by 3.7%. Morrisons puts its success down to various factors including being more competitive, being more friendly to its shoppers and having more tills open and shorter queues. It will be interesting to see whether other major supermarkets have also shared in an unexpectedly better festive season or whether Morrisons has come out tops.
Persimmon plc PSN provides an update for the year to the 31st December which indicates that the housing boom has continued to moderate compared to the glory days of years gone by but growth is still there aplenty. Revenue for the year rose by 9%, legal completions by 6% and the increase in the average selling price was limited to 3%. Pre tax profits for the year are expected to be modestly ahead of market consensus.
Safestore Holdings SAFE is increasing its final dividend by 21.4% to 9.8p per share for the year to 31st October after a strong operational performance coupled with a combination of both organic and acquisitive growth. Group revenue for the year rose by 12.6% or 3.3% on a like for like basis at constant exchange rates. Strong potential growth for the new year is seen in the integration of Allied Self Storage and in the development of three new sites.
Tasty plc TAST claims that 2018 is expected to produce further deterioration in the difficult trading environment facing the restaurant sector. Progress has been made in the disposal of four under performing sites and two further sites are now under offer.
Dechra Pharma plc DPH enjoyed strong trading during he half year to the 31st December with group revenue up by 10% at constant exchange rates or 11.5% at actual rates.
Find beachfront villas & houses for sale in Greece; http://www.hiddengreece.net