Week Ahead: The supermarket price war is expected to affect Morrisons results

The results come a week after Morrisons unveiled a shock tie-up with Amazon

(AP)

The supermarket price war is expected to take its toll on Morrisons when the smallest of the UK’s big four grocers releases its annual results on Thursday.

It is no secret that David Potts’s first year as chief executive has been a challenging one and underlying pre-tax profits are expected to have fallen from £345m to £307m, underlining how the established supermarkets have struggled to counter the threat of German discounters Aldi and Lidl.

That said, Morrisons is expected to reveal same-sales down by 2.1 per cent, much less than the 5.9 per cent slump it registered the year before, partly due to strong sales over Christmas. It is forecast that overall sales fell from £16.8bn to £16.1bn.

The results come a week after Morrisons unveiled a shock tie-up with Amazon to sell its fresh food to Amazon Prime customers. The deal sent the share price high enough for the group to regain promotion to the FTSE 100 after a three-month absence.

Clive Black, analyst at Morrisons’ house broker, Shore Capital, said Mr Potts had “moved mountains” in just one year.

Payments firm Worldpay reports its first set of results as a public company tomorrow, having floated in October and quickly moved into the FTSE 100. Analysts at Credit Suisse predict underlying earnings will have risen from £375m to £406m, with revenues up from £863m to £969m.

Elsewhere, insurers Prudential and Aviva report annual results on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Michael Page and Robert Walters get in on the act on Thursday, with the recruitment rivals due to release their annual results.

A trading statement from Home Retail Group on Thursday will reveal how business has been at Argos, which is currently the subject of a takeover battle between Sainsbury’s and South Africa’s Steinhoff.

On the same day, cinema operator Cineworld unveils its annual results following a blockbuster year for films, including Star Wars.

Other companies on the reporting card include the newly merged Paddy Power Betfair, housebuilder Taylor Wimpey, pub operator JD Wetherspoon, brick manufacturer Ibstock and oil firm Ophir Energy.