We see Morrisons this morning as the first UK grocery operator to report trading over the Christmas period, beating market expectations with a 9.3% rise in like for like sales.
No surprise to see an uplift from a COVID impacted Christmas at home – Champagne sales up 64%. We believe Tesco and Sainsbury’s may show more significant growth given their broader non-food offering.
Online demand strong of course, but of note that Morrisons say is already profitable despite their more expensive external relationships with Ocado, Amazon and Deliveroo.
Full Year profit expectations remain unchanged at £420-£440mio – before the repayment of the business rates of £230mio. The operator tenants of Supermarket Income REIT continue to pay a critical role in the UK’s food infrastructure.
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