Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc

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Wm Morrison Supermarkets is the UK's 4th largest supermarket, with ~490 stores (Apr.2018). Sales are as follows:

  • 76.7%: Consumer goods: grocery products, fresh and frozen products, home and leisure items, hygiene products, beauty products, cassettes, DVDs, etc.
  • 21.6%: Operation of service stations
  • 1.7%: Other

Inequality in Supply Chains
(2018)[1]    Transparency: 4%   Workers: 17%   Farmers: 0%   Women: 0% 

Company

Shareholders

Total float: 99.6%
Source: MarketScreener.svg, Mar.2020

Structure

ToDo:
  • Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc, CH
    • Wm Morrison Supermarkets Holdings Ltd, holdco, reg. Jun.2017, CH

Controversies & Conflicts

ToDo:

History

Plastic Packaging

  • Jan.14.2018: What are supermarkets doing to fight plastic? Plastic waste is "one of the great environmental scourges of our time". These are the words of Prime Minister Theresa May, who has pledged to ban all avoidable plastic waste in the UK by 2042. Despite extending the 5p charge on single-use plastic bags, major retailers in England still sold 2.1bn in the last financial year. But organisations like Greenpeace UK are sceptical about the plan, citing Mrs May's "vague aspirations". So what are Britain's 10 biggest supermarkets doing to combat the "scourge" of plastic? Morrisons recycles its carrier bags and uses "returnable bins" for fish products to reduce the use of poly boxes. The company says it keeps 95% of its store waste out of direct landfill. It has also banned microbeads and plastic cotton buds in its own-brand cosmetic products, and plans to phase out drinking straws in its cafes. In Sept.2017, it trialled removing single-use carrier bags entirely in six of its stores. BBC News.

Political Stance

  • May.27.2018: What Elon Musk and George Soros can teach us about media credibility. For some change is disastrous. It is an outrage, for example, that Asda and Morrisons are refusing to stock the New European on the grounds of its anti-Brexit stance. Launched in nine days after the EU referendum, the weekly campaigning paper – with an average circulation of 22,000 – has won several awards since launching in Jun.2016. The editorial and management has made no secret of its pro-Remain stance. Indeed, its raison d’etre has been to redress the imbalance in the national media. Newspapers supporting Brexit are read by four times as many as those supporting the status quo. So why, if both supermarkets sell pro-Brexit papers, have they told the New European’s distribution team their “stores do not want to be seen to take a political stance”? Editor Matt Kelly has accused the retailers of “damaging media plurality” in the UK. And given the importance of supermarket sales to print newspapers, he is 100% right. Jane Martinson, The Guardian.

Timelines

ToDo: UK Food Retailing, 1980-2002.[2]
ToDo: link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link

  • Feb.2018:
    Deals-Arrow-Left.svg
    Chippindale Foods Ltd, a North Yorkshire-based supplier of free-range eggs, was acquired to work with egg farmers to support a sustainable supply chain.[3] Chippindale Foods LtdOpenCorporates-sm.svg, ChippindaleFoods.co.uk
  • Mar.2004:
    Safeway-uk-pre-2005.svgDeals-Arrow-Left.svg
    Safeway plc was acquired from its parent company, Argyll Foods plc.[4] Most of Safeway's 479 shops were rebranded as Morrisons, with 48 Safeway and 4 Morrisons stores being sold off as required by the Office of Fair Trading. By Nov.2005, the Safeway brand had disappeared from the UK, although the brand was revived in Nov.2016 for a range of products, manufactured by Morrisons, for distribution through UK independent retailers.
  • 1993: negotiated successfully for a super-site at Waterloo.
  • 1987: opened its first Kirklees store in Heckmondwike.
  • Founded by William Morrison.

Articles

  • May.15.2018: Morrisons boss David Potts enjoys bumper bonus. The boss of Wm Morrison took home a bumper £5.8m pay packet last year after a boost from a long-term incentive plan that has been the subject of a shareholder revolt. David Potts nearly doubled his remuneration package from £2.8m in 2016. Much of the rise was driven by a £3m payout linked with an incentive plan that provoked a revolt at the retailer’s annual meeting last year. The remuneration of Trevor Strain, chief financial officer, also jumped from £2.7m to £3.4m last year, boosted by the same plan. Morrisons is the 4th biggest supermarket chain in Britain behind Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda. Last year 48.11% of shareholders voted against the incentive plan. The revolt came after ISS, the influential corporate governance group, said that the decision to increase a long-term share award for Mr Potts to 300% of his salary, up from 240%, was above the average ratio. Andy Higginson, Morrisons’ chairman, criticised ISS at the time and said that the board “believes the targets to be significant and stretching”. Tony van Kralingen, chairman of the grocer’s remuneration committee, said in the latest annual report that he was “keenly aware of the voting outcome at the June 2017 annual meeting”. Deirdre Hipwell, The Times.

References

  1. ^ Ripe for Change. Oxfam launches a new campaign to expose the root causes behind human suffering in food supply chains, and to mobilize the power of people around the world to help end it, starting with a focus on the role of supermarkets. The Supermarkets Scorecard is on page 24. Robin Willoughby, Tim Gore, Oxfam International, Jun.21.2018.
  2. ^ Corporate Strategy in UK Food Retailing, 1980-2002. Geoffrey Owen, London School of Economics, Institute of Management, Feb.2003. - Background paper by Geoffrey Owen.pdf Original archived
  3. ^ Morrisons buys free-range egg manufacturer. Michelle Perrett, Food Manufacture, Feb.21.2018.
  4. ^ Morrisons completes merger with Safeway. Press Relese, Safeway plc, Mar.08.2004. Original archived on Mar.08.2004.