Shares digital

Britain's fourth biggest supermarket WM Morrison reported full-year earnings at the upper end of market expectations. It also committed to returning £1 billion to shareholders.

The cash will be returned during 2008 and 2009, with £500 million being delivered in the first twelve months of the programme. Shares put in a relatively steady performance off 5p, or about 2%, against a tough market backdrop.

Morrison said it plans to return capital through a share buyback programme. Pre-tax profit, excluding property gains for the year to 3 February, totaled £580 million, compared with £331 million the previous year.

That compares to market forecasts which ranged between £540-605 million. Total sales were £13 billion, against £12.2 billion the year before. That incorporated a like-for-like gain excluding fuel of 4.6%.

Chief executive Marc Bolland said customer numbers had grown by an extra half million per week during the year. Morrison confirmed the retirement of 76-year-old chairman Sir Ken Morrison,following 56 years of service.

Morrison will be replaced by current deputy chairman,Sir Ian Gibson. Sir Ken will take up the non-salaried position of honorary president.

Morrison said it had seen the rise of inflationary cost pressures in a number of basic commodities such as dairy products and wheat during the course of the year.

Morrison is paying a final dividend of 4.125 pence per share, making a total dividend for the year of 4.8 pence, an increase of 20%.